The plight of a Blight [Blight]

[Reikiko Tsukino]

♚

Gloom and doom might had been one way to describe the feeling that surrounded Reikiko's presence at the moment. Walking along the streets of Triton City the girl had been preparing herself for the special assignment that her master had bestowed upon her, yet unlike usually there was no smile upon her lips, nor was there the usual cheerful humming. No, instead the girl's expression seemed unusually absent of any emotion right now.

It was a sharp contrast to her companion, the Keramon who was giggling like a madman as it floated beside her. She still had difficulties accepting the fact Kuro was gone, forever out of her reach because of her own foolishness, and although she was far from powerless, it was a bit difficult for her to accept the Keramon as her partner.

"Aneki, it's almost like a ghost town in here! Do you think they all died? Maybe a BLIGHT gotten to them!"

The Keramon burst into a laughing fit, making Reikiko grumble under her breath while stuffing her hands inside the pockets of her vest. Although he was joking around like a clown, the Keramon did have a point. Triton City was very rarely not busy, it was almost like a vacation resort where you found people on the streets every moment of the day. So then... what was different today? As if on cue the sound of loud buzzing started to fill the air, a swarm of creatures blotting the sky above and darkening it like a solar eclipse would. It was a peculiar sight, one she might had stayed to enjoy if not for the fact a sudden aggressive buzz came from the nearby alleyway and a tentomon charged straight at her!

The Shademon had rapidly stirred into motion, but it seemed unneeded because the Keramon darted forwards, its large arms lashing forwards in a swirling motion, one that was effective enough to send the insect recoiling backwards and opening it for yet another strike.

"KEKEKEKEKEKE CRAZY GIGGLE!"

The Keramon started to giggle like a madman, opening its mouth to reveal a large dual-colored sphere of white and black flames had manifested, and after blowing the sphere toward his enemy, the impact of the attack vaporized his foe into tiny data streams. Slowly converting it back toward a Digtama.

The girl slowly approached the egg, looking at it with a hint of coldness in her eyes before she raised her hand, the tendrils lashing out toward the egg and impaling it several times, ensuring the Digimon was lost forever.

"No more mercy to those who threaten us..."

It was a soft whisper, and for a moment she couldn't help but think of Yana who would likely have stopped her. How she envied the girl's nature, to be able to be so kind and caring, but even more: to be strong enough to endure the suffering of those who would abuse her kindness for their own wicked desires.

She envied the kind, and the naive people who thought being nice and heroic was what made them 'heroes'. If only they realized heroism was dead, and that heroes were a simple lie fabricated from fairy-tales.

It was only a moment later she realized a familiar figure was nearby, hearing Kera approach them with a smirk.

"It's Blight! I KNEW IT! A BLIGHT GOT TO THE CITY! Kekekeke~ Did you send in a plague of tentomon to scare the shit out of everyone? That sure is dark man, and I'm not talking about the fact those fucking drones are covering our sky like a makeshift solar eclipse. Perhaps that's why everyone isn't outside! The idiots thing it's bed-time!"

Yet another groan came from Reikiko as she approached Blight, raising a hand lightly in a greeting.

"Don't mind him Blight, unlike Kuro... Kera has a few screws loose."

The Keramon snickered in amusement, replying in a cheerful tone.

"Why thank you for the compliment Aneki~"

-----

### | Blight

❖

[Blight]

Blight turned on his heel, surprised that he was no longer alone. He didn't appear as he usually did. For one, his posturing was slumped. The air of confidence typical of his presence had been sucked away. Secondly, his head hung low. Something appeared to be dripping from the edge of his helmet, tracing its way down his jaw as it pattered softly on the pavement. If Reikiko looked closely, she'd spot something crumpled in his hand. An old letter perhaps? Upon recognizing the girl, the Hazardmon stashed the paper into his sweater and tilted his head. After a brief silence, he sniffed loudly. "Fuck" he cursed quietly.

The small Digimon raised his sleeve and wiped his face. In one motion, he went from inconsolable to completely normal. His back straightened out and he raised his noggin high. With a quick pat, his sweater was in order and he appeared normal. A faint sheen glistened against his mask. As it turned out, he smeared whatever was coming from beneath that mask all over himself. If those were tears coming out of him - which no one could prove - they certainly weren't normal. For one, most people, even Digimon, didn't leak fluorescent green. "Yo, hey girl!" he said awkwardly, attempting to look cool. He crossed his arms, pretending to be all gangsterlike. Despite the coverup, he wasn't looking too smooth. And then he looked into Reikiko's eyes. The sadness. He knew it. She was...lost? Was that the word? In a strange way, it was comforting. He wasn't the only one here playing pretend. Her strength was obvious; she was unflinching. Still, he could detect the uneasiness. Hell, it might have been loss. This was about the time he realized there was a Keramon with her. Wasn't she normally?...

Oh.

"Hey there mate. Wasn't me man, gotta tell you. I was actually on my way to handle it, y'know, like a good general. You're cool with the title, right? Umm, what's your name?" His whole speech was awkward, disjointed. He sounded nervous. It wasn't typical for Blight to show any kind of emotion besides happy. Nor was he ever uncomposed, if that was even a word. To be truthful, Keramon creeped him out. Normally he could sympathize with a fellow creepy dude. Today, eeeeeh, not so much. He knew what was going on. Kuro wasn't there. He wasn't. Fucking there.

Was it fate that brought them together, him and Reikiko? That they would both experience the same pain, the same misery? In a sense, it was comforting. At least he wasn't alone anymore.

[Reikiko Tsukino]

♚

It seemed Blight was on his way to handle the problem, or rather the invasion that was about to unfold, it was a bit reassuring to hear someone strong like herself was about to look into the matter, if it wasn't for the fact she needed to get ready for her mission in a bit, then she likely would have joined the conflict herself. Nevertheless, the Seven had different plans for her, and so she would obey.

It was only for a moment, but she could have sworn Blight's response was somewhat different from the usual reactions she gotten from him. Was it nervousness? Perhaps he was intimidated by the creepiness of the Keramon? Or perhaps he was uncomfortable about the depressive mood that surrounded her. She couldn't blame him, in the end she likely would have felt the same. Even when she tried to smile, the smile was empty and hollow, a weak attempt to conceal the grief that was evident in her eyes.

"Kera! That's what Aneki calls me!"

Now she thought about it, even if they only met a few times Blight did know Kuro, so it was very likely that the Digimon was catching the cues of what was causing her such suffering. In the end she finally dropped the act, her smile fading away for a sorrowful look as she explained in a slightly shaking voice, clearly holding back the urge to start crying.

"It's like you are assuming: Kuro is gone."

She paused for a moment, raising her shadow-coated arm and after a moment the black substance seemed to dissolve around her hand, revealing the feint purple glowing mark that was branded on it. Even now it pulsed lightly with the eerie energy, and yet what once filled her with pride now only left regrets.

"I always thought we would be the ones to master the power of the mark. When we declined the Olympians their summons and succeeded in obtaining the means to pacify the phantoms, to make them consider us kin I thought we were destined for this power."

Yet that was a lie, the assumptions of a fool who thought of herself to be greater than those who called themselves heroes. While she might had mastered the mark and started to uncover the secrets behind it, the mark also demanded a sacrifice in return for its boon. And it had claimed that sacrifice at the highest possible cost.

"But I was wrong... horribly wrong. Although my body adjusted to the mark's energy, perhaps thanks to Shademon's presence Kuro was much less fortunate. He suffered in silence, not once showing a sign of his pain as the mark slowly dominated his body, for his mind was too strong for anything to conquer."

She gripped her fists tightly, tears seemingly gathering in her eyes at last as she continued.

"And I was too obsessed with chasing my ambitions that I didn't notice his agony, and by the time I did it was too late. The mark's energy had distorted his data so much that even as a Mega Digimon he could no longer endure it. I watched him disappear before my eyes, his entire being dissolving into data. If only it had been a mere reincarnation I could have accepted this but..."

This was not a reincarnation, Kuro had died and he would never return... That was the consequence for her envy.

"There is not a shred of my friend left in Kera. His memories, his personality even his feelings are all gone! Simply because in response to our inability to grow stronger through normal means, we embraced a dark power like this..."

She spoke with a hint of disgust when finally she turned toward the Keramon who was looking absently into the sky, sighing loudly.

"Although he calls me Aneki like Kuro did... Kera is not Kuro. He... is merely a manifestation of the mark's power, a constant reminder of my failures. I doubt if it wasn't for Kera's power still making me useful to the Shin-Sekai... that I would have had the right to call myself a Tamer."

She shook her head briefly, as if to clear her thoughts from the grim thoughts of her mind. Now was not the time to wallow in despair and pity herself, especially not around others.

"Sorry about that, it's still difficult to come to terms with the fact I'm responsible for my Digimon's death. Nevertheless, it's reassuring to hear you're about to handle the problem 'General Blight'."

She added the bit with a attempt to lift the mood again, soon continuing her explanation.

"Unfortunately I won't be able to reinforce the defenses, I am being summoned elsewhere for a special assignment by the Enzeru, the Seven demand my attention elsewhere. I do think we'll see some of our group return to Triton City soon. Lady Claire was nearby, so she might be at the scene already.


-----

### | Blight

❖

[Blight]

Blight remained fixated on Reikiko. He would barely honour Kera with a response and nodded rather plainly at the other Digimon's introduction. This was a grave situation, wasn't it? He couldn't think of another way to describe it. The buzzing above them was beginning to make his head hurt. In fact, he was pretty sure that he had his own buzzing going on. All kinds of thoughts were pestering him, stinging his soul like the swarm of bees filling the sky.

The small Digimon shuffled forward and squared his shoulders. Confrontation mode: engaged. "Did you kill him?" he asked rather frankly. For those that weren't aware, Blight had a certain...soft spot for these kind of predicaments. One wouldn't call him offended, per se; that wasn't quite the correct term for it. Perhaps disturbed was a better adjective? Or rustled? His jimmies certainly weren't in place. If someone walked into his head at this very moment, they would find a mess of skeletons on the floor. The closet would be wide open. Unfortunately for Reikiko, this put her in danger. Hazardmon, by definition, was unstable. The cause of all of the swirling chaos within him, however, was the death of his human partner. Yoshio's death. All of it: his fault.

'I mean, at least she got someone new.' His calm, happy-go-lucky side was trying to put this all back together. To clean up the skeletons he'd spilled all over the floor. The other part - the more volatile part - hissed in jealousy. It wasn't fair! It wasn't fucking fair!

"Tell me." A command, not a request. Blight didn't seem concerned at all that Kera was some kind of reincarnation. He didn't care that the Mark destroyed another Digimon (like, actually destroyed). No, he was looking to point his finger at someone because he'd spent so many years pointing the finger at himself. He wanted to know that someone else was responsible. He needed to know. In this exact second he'd forgotten his relationship with Reikiko and his identity entirely. The chaos was bubbling over. Rei and Kera were about to get a look at the real Blight.

[Reikiko Tsukino]

♚

The question came rather suddenly, and caught her entirely off-guard. Did she... kill him? For a moment she couldn't help but find her thoughts consumed by nostalgia. That time she and Kuro had been seated on a tree log enjoying a pleasant lunch while chattering about random stuff. They had no care in the world, just the search of more adventures had filled their thoughts. Of that day she had nearly been killed during the invasion of the Skullgreymon, back when Kuro darted in to protect her from an attack that should have killed her. Of that day they bested Blight at the championship finals and finally reached their ambition: to get noticed by one of the Seven. They had fought together, laughed together, cried together...

She looked downwards at her hands, finding them trembling lightly as the earlier thoughts started to come back to plague her. They had been willing to sacrifice plenty of things to obtain the power they desired. But in the end this sacrifice was one that was simply too much.

"I-I"

A sharp stinging sensation reached her brain, her breathing seemingly growing slightly faster and irregular as she remembered that hollow feeling that lingered behind after Kuro's body disappeared in her arms. That's right, there was only one reason why her partner had died, one reason why Kuro would never come back. It seemed the guilt and regrets of this realization had stirred the Shademon, its eyes opening and staring intensely at Blight while at the same time a thick black aura started to warp around the Keramon, its madman's laughter starting to fade away as its expression seemed to turn blank. It wasn't that he was being serious, it was as if the Keramon's consciousness had faded away and it became nothing but a hollow puppet.

"Killed him..."

Its body seemed to enlarge, turning into the dangerous entity known as Armagemon. The creature's soulless eyes gazed blankly at Blight, a step forwards being made by the monstrous creature while Reikiko's hand reached for her head, as if she was suffering from an intense headache.

"even if I didn't want to, it's my actions that led to its death!"

Tears started to flow once more as the Armagemon opened its mouth, seemingly ready to attack Blight but it was at that time something peculiar happened. Blight could have likely noticed it, the shimmering image, an echo of Kuro's data had formed into his image, gently raising a paw to the girl's thigh, tapping it lightly.

"Don't give up now Aneki! Warriors don't surrender their dreams! Besides, you got to fulfill those ambitions for the two of us!"

The Armagemon's mouth slowly closed, a sudden stream of tears flowing from its eyes while Reikiko found herself collapsing onto her knees, breaking out in sobs.

"Why Blight! Why must you remind me of this?! It's true! I killed Kuro, I was responsible for my partner's death, and won't ever see him again! I'm all alone now, with only a stranger at my side..."

The last words were whispered in a pained sob, the girl's suffering clearly evident.

-----

### | Blight

❖

[Blight]

The cackling little idiot got bigger, huh? Blight stared him straight in the face, unflinching. Monsters like this didn't scare him anymore; he'd looked in the mirror far too many times. His Crest of Courage was a relic of the past, but he still had the balls to be worthy of claiming it. He lingered there for some time, enforcing his ironclad will on to the opposing Digimon. He was intimidating in a cutesy kind of way. That being the case, his own Mega form was much more terrifying. In this very moment, one could nearly identify a hulking abomination, gingerly wrapping its claws around its tender Rookie prey. Blight did not yet possess the desperation to summon Cataclysmon, nor the power. Each of these were growing by the day, however, bringing him closer to the thing he hated most of all. At this notion, the armoured menace would laugh heartily, begging Armagemon to be patient enough to meet him.

Just as Blight's foe was poised to take him down, something unexpected occurred. Reikiko admitted it. It was cathartic to hear her words as if now someone else finally understood him. Someone else had the same pain. Then again, his rage had hardly settled. He saw everything. Kuro's fractal code, seemingly alive, comforted Reikiko in her time of mourning. He hugged her in the only way he could, easing the guilt. 'Who was there when I was all alone?' Uh oh. While Kuro's brief presence should have brought him peace, it brought him agonizing pain instead. No. He wasn't allowed to talk to her! He wasn't allowed to tell her how much he cared, or how he forgave her! Blight inched closer to Armagemon, even as the massive Digimon was brought to tears by the plight of his master. It didn't. Fucking. Matter. In that instant, he raised one of his sleeves, prepared to strike.

"Where were you to comfort me, Yoshio?" he snarled. The Hazardmon's personality had been completely consumed by rage. No wise cracks, no optimism, no humour, no fun, no happiness. All he saw was red. He brought his arm down viciously to give Reikiko a slap in the face. If he missed, he would try again and again, trying to absolve his sins one blow after another. The nature of his frenzy wasn't to hurt or kill his target, per se. He just wanted her to understand. He wanted to force her to understand. To feel what he felt.

"Why won't you speak to me, Yoshio!?" Blight's voice was a cut louder than the buzzing army above the city. His fervour was real. All of his feelings were crashing down on him, drowning him in a punishing wave. His Mark burned furiously. All the while, the dark beast within him just laughed and laughed and laughed...

---

Tags: Reikiko Tsukino

[Reikiko Tsukino]

♚

It appeared Blight had his fair share of emotional phantoms to deal with, and while Reikiko seemed too emotionally distressed to notice, or perhaps care about the slap that was being launched toward her face, it appeared the Shademon had a different opinion about it, for the moment the sleeved hand of the Digimon reached her, a tendril swiftly moved forward, intending to coil around Blight's arm to bind it in place and slowly force it away. However, if there was one thing that could be said about Reikiko, then it was the fact she was not truly an evil person, something that would soon become evident when she heard Blight's words.

"I'm not Yoshio!"

She wasn't sure who this Yoshio was, but judging from the fact it sounded like a Japanese name, and an unusual one for a Digimon to possess, she was fairly certain it must had been a human from Japan like her. Perhaps a long lost friend, or perhaps even something more? Although a part of her felt the urge to lash out, she also remembered that pain of being entirely alone, a world with nobody to trust or depend on, a world without friends... It was a world she wished nobody would experience.

But Kuro... Kuro had freed her from such a nightmare, he had been her friend, and perhaps it was because of Kuro that today her actions were remarkably different from what they had been in the past. Instead of retaliating with a punch or a similar attack her arms merely tried to embrace Bright into a gentle hug as she whispered softly.

"The reason Yoshio isn't speaking to you is because you're not willing to listen."

Why was she trying to comfort this Digimon, someone she only met a few times, at best an acquaintance? Was it kindness? Or perhaps merely kinship as two beings who had both endured the same type of suffering. She had some guessed on what had happened, that Blight had experienced the same thing as she did but in the opposite manner, and finally she spoke once more.

"Although Yoshio might no longer be here physically, it does not mean that they are gone. Within your memories, within your heart they live on. Even now they are likely watching over you, it's just that because they are no longer by our side... that it hurts so much."

The last words were spoken with a hint of sorrow, clearly sharing the pain in the knowledge that both had lost a loved one that would never be at their side again. Whether her hug succeeded or not, she would have finally pulled back and looked at Blight, a hand raised to her face to wipe away her tears with the sleeve of her vest.

"There is nothing we can do about the past Blight, all we can do is treasure the memories and feelings we have of the past, and learn from our failures and mistakes. This is why I long for power Blight, the power to ensure we don't have to experience such feelings again."

Yes, perhaps Kuro had influenced her more than she had ever wanted to admit...

-----

### | Blight

❖

[Blight]

Shademon's tendrils wrapped around the Hazardmon's wrist, preventing him from striking any further. He would fight repeatedly against it until he became too tired to try anymore. He dangled inches from Rei's face, his eyes still filled with the kind of rage most people would never get a chance to witness. He wriggled indignantly (one last try) and raised his other hand, giving his friend the finger. "No, it's because he's fucking dead" he retorted. Rei's words may have been to comfort him, but they only served to confirm his rage. The fact of the matter was that when Digimon passed away, they often remained a part of the digital fabric of the realm. Spirits were common, as were partial fractal codes. Humans, on the other hand...when they died, they died. There was no residue, no soul, no spirit. Just a body. The image of Yoshio's lifeless corpse would haunt him 'til the end of his days. And that was just it: there would never be an end. He'd carry the guilt forever. Every day, it would poison him a little more. He could try to hallucinate himself out of complete madness; it would solve nothing. This was his tragic fate. His own personal affliction. His own personal blight.

Suddenly, something began to penetrate his anger. Without realizing it, Rei had wrapped her arms around him in a gentle embrace. The explosive pain from his Mark seemed to quell as her fingers curled around his sweater. Blight grit his teeth. Finally, he allowed his arms to relax. They fell limp to his sides, signalling that she'd won. Shademon could now recoil; he wouldn't hurt her anymore. "Rei...it always hurts" he moaned quietly. If she'd let him, he'd bury his face in the crook of her neck, falling into the most needed hug of his entire lifetime. Had anyone ever tried to comfort him like this? The truth was, he needed a bit of tenderness. He needed to break down the barriers he'd constantly put up between himself and other people. Maybe the wound could heal, just for today. For the moment, Blight couldn't bring himself to apologize for the abuse. In fact, he could barely manage a tear. It was clear at this time that Rei was very likely the better person. She was less selfish than him, more dedicated, more patient. Less brash. She didn't scapegoat, unlike him.

'I want to get enough power to bring him back. I'm going to try.' A dangerous thought with even more dangerous consequences...