For a destined bond creature/partner bond to be used offensively against someone in order to break them is pretty darn evil.
So it's nice to have a character who is evil enough to thoroughly deserve it.
Monodramon feels bad for him, but Monodramon is an angel, by some definitions literally.
"Ryo." A familiar clawed hand nudged his shoulder.
"Un… Monodramon?"
"No," Monodramon's voice growled, and Ryo was instantly awake.
Those narrowed eyes… Not Monodramon.
"What have you done to him?!"
"What is he about to do to himself! Talk sense into that dragon child of yours! He wants to shorten his lifespan by thousands of years! Do something about him so I can go back to sleep!"
"Monodramon's in danger… Why do you care?"
"Because he needs to use me to do this to himself, and if I was involved in his early death, that would be one more thing you'd never forgive me for." Ryo didn't respond immediately, and watching him the irritation in those eyes subsided, emotions began to show in them that weren't Monodramon's, and a moment after that really sunk in Monodramon's body flinched. "He's the one that woke me up," Millenniummon said defensively. "I will return to my sealed slumber, Ryo. For your happiness, I will do it gladly. I will still my heart once again, and sleep until the end of my world."
It would have been nice if he didn't remember enough to know what that meant. "And what will you do once I'm no longer around to stop you?"
"…I'm only immortal as long as you are alive, Ryo. When you die, I will go with you, but Monodramon is a child. You would be sad if he died so young for your sake."
"Die young?" Was that a threat.
"Young for a Digimon. Monodramon could live for thousands of years. If he does what he wants to do, he'll die when we die. I knew that you would want the chance to stop him."
"What's in this for you?"
Monodramon chuckles, and it shouldn't be so dark, coming from him. There shouldn't be any note of despair, either. "Of course you understand me, my…" He stops himself, fortunately. "You would be sad, if you knew he was going to die because he loves you, and I don't want you to be sad. You know that you are the only thing that matters to me."
Ryo sighed. "I know," he admitted, feeling tired. "Let me talk to Monodramon."
Yellow eyes closed, and then Monodramon's body jerked, startled.
"Is it really you, Monodramon?"
"He really talked to you because he was worried about me? I thought he wouldn't risk reminding you that he was still here!"
"Monodramon, what was that about?"
Monodramon looked guilty. "I wanted to find a way to help you with the D-Reaper, so I went looking for him inside my head for the first time. His digicore was slowed down so much he was practically stopped. I made him wake up and help us. He didn't want to because he didn't want you to know he still existed because you wouldn't feel safe then. He wanted to stay asleep until you died and go with you. I said that you wouldn't be happy if the fighting reminded you of all the fighting you had to do before, and… things, and he said that he'd watch and see if he could think of anything that would help, but he wouldn't gather the power he'd need to destroy the D-Reaper himself because you wouldn't like that. While we were talking, he told me that there wasn't a Primary Village in this universe, and I got really upset, and he didn't know how to make me feel better except by… talking about you. And I said I wanted to be your partner just like he was, and he said that if I made my heart beat in time with his, then my heart would stop when your heart stopped too. I said I didn't mind, but he got upset that you would be upset."
"I bet he just wanted to be my only real partner… but that too, Monodramon. You're… Since he told me that as long as I was alive he'd just come back to life, I've… but you're just a kid," Ryo said, with no awareness of any irony, "and you've been a great partner to me, Monodramon. I don't want you to end up any worse off because of me than you already have. You had to merge with Millenniummon. Once we're dead, you could have your life back."
"I want to stay with you and protect you!"
"I shouldn't need any more protecting when I'm gone, Monodramon." At least he hoped not, with Millenniummon planning to go after him. "If you're willing to stay with me for the rest of my life… I'd be happy, but I don't want… I don't want having met me to cost you more than it already has."
Biomerge digivolution is having his soul wrapped in a big, warm, fluffy towel.
Monodramon is there with him, around him, loving him and worrying about him and wanting to protect them, but there's another presence, a (safely) mindless one. It would be one thing to have a person he can't trust touching him like this, it's another when it's, well, like a towel that someone warmed and left for him. Lingering sentiment instead of someone watching him, calculating how this will affect him.
Draped around him is love, and happiness just to be with him, just that he exists, and utter selflessness, all for his sake. There's nothing more self-sacrificing than the sacrifice of self.
There's no change in the level of those feelings as they fight, or even when the biomerge begins or ends. Not enough awareness to even notice that their bond is suddenly that much stronger.
The dragon is really sleeping. They're safe, he and Monodramon are safe.
He's not tempted to ruin this by waking Millenniummon. He knows that even if these are Millenniummon's true feelings, they aren't all his feelings. Millenniummon put his mind and soul into standby mode, all of it damn near shut down except the feelings he wanted to give as gifts to Ryo. This is his wish, his offering, what he would be for Ryo if he could, and Ryo isn't going to ruin it for him, reject the gift Millenniummon gave up mind and will to grant him, by throwing it away and instead asking things of Millenniummon he's not capable of.
It's beautiful, and it's part of why he can't really take the D-Reaper threat seriously. He knows it's dangerous, but when the fear that he's lived under even while he didn't remember is finally gone, it's hard for fear of the D-Reaper to override that surge of relief.
Monodramon loves him as a dear friend, but Millenniummon loves him as a river loves the sea. Millenniummon's love is an inevitability, and maybe that's messed up, but it means they don't have to be afraid anymore. The evil god is caged, and everything's going to be okay.
It's not what Tai and the others had. It's not Ken and sweet little Wormmon. Millenniummon is ancient and twisted and evil, but with Monodramon there to be the friend Millenniummon can't, it's closer to perfect than he could have imagined. It's hard not to laugh and be giddy, but he's used to being professional even when Digimon have just died for him and he's miserable, so he can handle this. He can do this, he's fought in four wars before, what's a fifth one that's not against his partner? With his partners by his side?
And then they're ripped away.
And he really has to wonder how many of their abilities he shares with his destined partner, because he can see the future. If he can't get to the digital world before Millenniummon wakes up and goes crazy?
Millenniummon was still asleep, curled up as Dracomon again, but for how long?
Red eyes just stared at him. "Ryo must appreciate you for your loyalty, not for your brains. Did the ENIAC never explain true partner bonds to you? Of course not, the ENIAC was a responsible god, he wouldn't taunt you with what you could never have. Time, space, alternate timelines, cleaving dimensions in two: none of these were ever enough to sever my bond with Ryo. Thousands of years before I met him, the first thread of it was there, pulling at my core. Even with Ryo in another world, I can feel that he lives. I can feel that he is concerned for us. That he wants us – well, you I'm sure – with him." Joy – bitterness – longing in quick succession in that last sentence. "His thoughts are full of us, his heart longs to be reunited with us. I… I wanted to see Ryo again so much I never cared if it killed me…" Dracomon's child form's voice was broken. "I wanted him to… his feelings…" Painful, agonized bliss that made Monodramon shudder as it wracked their shared body. "He wants us to go to him, Monodramon. Will he, will he be angry if I obey?"
Dracomon shuddered. "He won't like it. I would need to regain my power, but, but Ryo…" It wasn't that something pierced the heart they shared: it was already pierced, and the old wound where Ryo and Dracomon's souls were bound together ached. "I tried, oh I tried, but I cannot deny him."
Yoursyoursyours (it hurts) I love you (it hurts) I longed to hear you call for me (you called for me every second of every day and I could never find you and it drove me to madness) yours (until all I could want was for it to stop) I need you needloveneed (only) you I must love you or hate you and I tried, oh I tried to hate you but my hatred hurt you and I cannot hurt you (I cannot bear it) so I must love you (yours because you will never be mine).
Pain, so much pain, tearing through them, tearing them apart and it was when they began to settle into a new configuration, the shape crafted as a vessel for the soul who had never known anything but this agony until it became normal, simply the nature of life and the Digital World, that Monodramon realized why Millenniummon had let this storm engulf them, let these feelings and memories rise up even though it hurt.
Dark digivolution.
Claws of energy that were no longer Monodramon's tore at the real world sphere above them, but that wasn't necessary – it was ZiydMillenniummon's very existence, the unsealed sheer power of the evil god of space and time that tore through the dimensions, tore them apart to reach Ryo.
Ryo who was oh my beloved killer, come to me and end my agony until I rise again and must wait for you to come to me again. Now you call for me, promising your blessing oh sweet god of death (Seraphimon is the least among your servants and yet I must envy the Protector of Hope).
A city beneath them and the real world is so fragile and cannot be restored – Ryo would be angry if my radiating power scythed this city clean of life. He will be angry as it is, I must sleep or he will hate me…
Bodiless, ZiydMillenniummon had no more need to regard gravity than he did any other power but Ryo's.
Monodramon, on the other hand, didn't even have wings.
And Dracomon's looked too small to fly in the real world even if the other rookie's eyes weren't closed.
Monodramon screamed as he fell. The good news was that there were some things not that far below him. The bad news was that they were helicopter bladesow.
The helicopter swooped after Ketomon, and the next thing he knew he'd been grabbed and pulled inside the helicopter. "Where's Dracomon!?" he asked, wriggling and squeaking as loud as he could to be heard over the blades.
"Ketomon?" Ryo recognized him, and Ketomon recognized the digi-egg in Ryo's arms even though he'd never seen it before.
"That!" Ketomon sighed. "He's probably used to being immortal and not having to care about gravity, but what about me?" Ketomon was an ordinary Digimon who would die if he fell from the height of a skyscraper… Except he was Ryo's partner, wasn't he? And Ryo made things possible.
Ryo wouldn't let him die.
He could just see Dracomon sighing and scolding him, because didn't he realize his own power and position? It was disrespectful to Ryo, to not realize the power Ryo's favor granted him… or something like that.
Ryo was holding out his arms for Ketomon, looking at Tally with the egg tucked under one arm. "He's definitely my partner," he said, and Tally handed Ketomon over.
Ryo didn't put the egg down to hug Ketomon. Instead, he squished them together, and Ketomon would have to tell Millenniummon that when he woke up. Because he did sort of owe him, for letting him be with Ryo again.
…and no one had saved Dracomon when he fell. He might have come back to life because of Ryo, but had it hurt when he went splat?
In baby form, the thought was enough to make Ketomon start sniffling. "I'm sorry," Ryo said. "I should have found some way to get to you sooner, but they were watching me after I found the first two dimensional weak points."
"We, we could feel that you wanted to see us again!" and that was enough to force out a flood of tears. "I missed you, Ryo! I missed you so much!"
It was Ketomon's flood of emotion that gave the egg the power to hatch, and now there was a warm blue squishy ball pressed up against Ketomon and crying too.
"It hurts, it hurts…" little dragon wings wrapped around Ketomon and whimpered.
"Please don't hate him Ryo! He was asleep, I woke him up because I wanted to see you!" Ketomon said, wrapping his belly around Petitmon.
The other baby pressed into him. "Please please, I want to go back, Ryo hates me!" A muffled wail.
Ketomon looked up to see Ryo's eyes soften, because even if this one was a cruel mass-murderer, Ryo took good care of baby Digimon. He rocked them and the wails began to subside into whimpers. Petitmon convulsed once and then just trembled against Ketomon's side as Ketomon continued to look at Ryo pleadingly.
"You won't be able to DNA Digivolve again until the two of you are rookies," Ryo said, and sighed. "I guess we'll have to go to the digital world so you two can start absorbing data."
"I want to go back to being part of Ketomon," the other baby Digimon said, voice muffled because he was pressed against his digivolution partner, "because you love Ketomon and you won't ever love me."
"No, no," Ketomon said, wrapping around him again. "Don't be sad, I'll be sad and Ryo will be sad. Think about how much you love Ryo and go to sleep." Oh! Ryo must be mad because they'd fallen out of the sky separately and Millenniummon was immortal and Monodramon wasn't. What if he thought Petitmon had tried to kill Ketomon? "You knew I'd be okay, right?"
Petitmon squirmed around a little so he could look at Ketomon and blink at him.
"When you stopped being ZiydMillenniummon."
More blinking. "I was Ziyd-Me and I thought that Ryo wouldn't like it, that I was powerful and in control, so I went back to sleep and then I was an egg again and when I hatched I was Petitmon and awake instead of being part of Ketomon." A wing poked at him as the former evil god of time looked at him imploringly. "Why are you over there? You wanted to see Ryo, and I did that for you, so why am I alone in my head except for Ryo being angry with me?" Petitmon sniffled.
"I'm sorry!" Ketomon said, sniffling too. "I didn't mean for us to separate!" Keeping them DNA Digivolved was his job! "Don't be sad, it's my fault! He wasn't being bad, Ryo!" Ketomon said, looking up at their partner pleadingly.
"I'm sorry… Petitmon," Ryo said, and used his right forearm to squish them both against his chest while he fished in one of his pants pockets. Looking around for a chair, he sat down and put them on his lap so he could unwrap the candy bar.
The first piece was held in front of Petitmon, who just looked up at it. "Come on, open up," Ryo said cajolingly.
Sniffle. Another sniffle, as Ketomon realized what this would mean to Petitmon, who had never been given a treat by his partner, and yes, there he went, sobbing again.
Ketomon nudged him with his body. "Open up," he said, and Petitmon did, almost automatically, eyes scrunched closed as he cried.
At least he was quieter now, with something in his mouth: he wouldn't want to open his mouth and risk it escaping, when Ryo gave him something, and so Ketomon's partner shook instead, almost falling off Ryo's knees if Ryo hadn't pushed him back into place.
"I'm not angry," Ryo said softly. "You didn't hurt anyone," he glanced at Ketomon, who nodded. "The portal's staying open, and Beelzemon brought everyone else their partners. You did good."
"It was a dark digivolution, Ryo," Ketomon tried to whisper, pushing himself up against Ryo's chest a bit to be closer to Ryo's ears in case that would help Petitmon not hear him. "He-He had to think about sad things, and make himself feel really horrible and like you hated him and everything would always hurt and would never be okay so it would happen. I think he's still all cut up inside from it."
Ryo winced. "Yeah, I know how that goes…" When the memories woke up, when he couldn't push everything away anymore. "If he's raw like that… That's why I tell you not to comfort me sometimes, Ketomon. Because having a partner there telling me it's okay to cry will set off more tears than just the memories, when I'm trying to get everything back under control." He held another piece of chocolate against Ketomon's mouth.
Mmm, yummy. Ketomon's entire body wriggled when the taste hit his tongue.
"Are you guys okay? Who's the Petitmon?" Henry asked, recognizing Ketomon as Monodramon's baby form.
"He just hatched, and everything's a bit overwhelming," Ryo said, holding a finger to his lips. "When a baby Digimon gets like this, you need to keep things calm and quiet for them until they can calm down. I probably messed up by giving him chocolate."
"Yeah," Henry agreed. "You really don't want to overstimulate a toddler having a meltdown, even with good stimuli."
"Uh-huh," Terriermon agreed, shuddering.
"Come on, Terriermon, we can introduce ourselves later."
As Henry walked away Ryo started to pet them both, just gently, with a rhythm, squishing the two of them together a little. Petitmon was warm.
Ketomon closed his eyes. Awhile later more chocolate was held in front of where his nose would be, and he opened his mouth for it and murmured, "FanksReeo," because the ENIAC raised him to be polite. There were sounds around him, but he was too tired after being dragged into a dark digivolution and knocked down to baby by helicopter rotors to really register what they were saying when Ryo was here petting him and Petitmon was really warm.
Dimly, he did register being picked up, and rocking movements as Ryo walked somewhere.
"Two of them?" he did hear, because he recognized Ryo's dad's voice. A larger hand on his head woke him up a little more, enough to register, "Well, I guess they're a lot more tolerable when they're not pressing every button in my car while I'm trying to drive."
It was nice to hear a laugh from Ryo that mostly wasn't fake.