And in that moment, Takeru remembers.
Ken screams near his head, screams and howls to the dead and the living. All Takeru can hear is the howling of Digimon that died, the oddly stoic face of a baby-faced blue eyed boy. His cool face as he beats their Digimon, stopping within a centimeter of murder. The horror on his own face is clear. His own legs shaking as he learns something, a horrible thing.
They must kill each other. They must hurt each other. That is the way Ryo lives.
Did Ryo fail, perhaps? Did he lose despite being trained to win? Did he turn away from the final battle? How could he? Why?
Because he had been betrayed by them, that's why. After he had saved them. Then they had forgotten. But why?
No, if he had lost, if he had lost, then Millenniummon would be here in whatever form he had taken. So… why?
What was happening? He looks at Ken, whose neck was glowing, whose eyes were glowing blankly. He made no sound now as the ocean whirlpool sucked him in, dragged them all down. A ghostly claw strikes his heart and Lucemon screams.
Then, a soft, gentle voice touches their ears. "Gotcha."
Nefertimon catches them both as Halsemon soars down to the ground, barely managing to catch up. Nearby, Lucemon was writhing. The other Digimon, still under the control of the rings, are squirming and hissing as they try to swim to shore. In the clouds, a silhouette, hideous and red-eyed, looms into view. But it moves no closer.
Takeru swears he hears Millenniummon laugh, even as Lucemon shrivels and shrieks. He hopes he's imagining it.