I am editing my Digimon works to use the original names and terminology. Pardon my dust.

Apparently a petard is a kind of bomb used to blow holes in a fortified building's defenses. 'Hoist with his own petard,' means getting blown into the air by a bomb you set.

That is marvelously appropriate given Mugendramon and Millenniummon's penchant for explosions (Millenniummon sent Diablomon to nuke the Chosen Children from another dimension).

"I let you manipulate me into betraying the Four Holy Beasts."

It Ryo a moment to recognize the Jedi as Gennai. Did Artificial Humans age backwards? It might have been that long in the Digital World.

"Oh no. They betrayed you. Qinglongmon had the key to your kind's back-up data. He could have restored the files of your brothers, but instead they wanted innocents. More children to use and finally discard. The Holy Beasts' desire to make everyone forget that just anyone could become a god greater than them was so very convenient for me. If they were fit custodians of the Digital World, I wouldn't have had to risk jogging anyone's memory. They were secure in their self-righteousness, so they would have continued to abuse their power and those who fought for them, and in time the Chosen Children, Ryo would have had to go to war against them. Other Digimon would have had the chance to fight for him once again." Something clattered to the ground behind Ken's body, where Ryo had tied his hands. "And now you have the key."

"I won't accept anything from the Digimon who brought Piemon down upon us!"

"Go ahead: revive them with your own skill, if you can. But you would never have known it was possible if not for me." That smile should have been fanged. "Make no mistake: this is no attempt to buy your forgiveness for their slaughter. I. Don't. Care." Millenniummon said as if to a child, and for Ken to speak to Gennai like that… "I was fighting a war and your kind were on the wrong side: humans feel no guilt when they spray for termites. This, and the mask I set on your files so scans for heretical thoughts would come up clean, are to settle an entirely different account," Millenniummon said, turning away from Gennai to glance at Ryo.

Gennai looked at Ryo, but turned away, ashamed. Ryo wanted to tell him that he didn't have anything to apologize for, but seeing even Gennai unable to look at him? It drove home that none of the others but Wormmon were going to recognize him.

That no one was going to welcome him home, welcome him here, when he came and the person they thought was their friend vanished.

The others gathered: the original Eight, that American named Wallace from the tournament. Koushiro pulled Wallace into a hurried consultation along with Ken's brother and a girl who looked about Ken's age. He saw them sizing him up: right, he was a complete unknown to them, as far as they knew.

There wasn't anything Ryo could say, and no one he could say it to.

V-mon sat next to Wormmon, with a hand on his old friend's shoulder as V-mon's partner glared daggers at Millenniummon for upsetting his partner's friend. The youngest Chosen who showed up was around Ryo's age, and carried a bokken like he wanted to be breaking bones with it.

Millenniummon knew that he had a hostage, and they knew it. He ignored them whenever Ryo was in sight, looking at him like he was appreciating the view.

"Was Ken the reason you saved me?" Osamu asked.

"You were a valuable part of my cover. You were the only person who knew Ken better than Ryo, and living under the same roof, you would be the first to detect anything suspicious… And I could have erased your memories after interrogating you to find out where the flaw in my mask was. Keeping Ken's memories a day behind mine and observing his reactions was more than enough to fool all of you, but I didn't accomplish all that I have by relying on only a single stratagem."

"The spires block Digivolution so that even if we figured it out, all you had to do was retreat to the Digital World and we couldn't fight you!" Taichi threw his hands up. "I thought it was just that you didn't really care about helping Koushiro fix that because Wormmon couldn't digivolve and you didn't like other Digimon looking down on him!"

Bored contempt was an expression that didn't belong on Ken's face. "The spires block Digivolution so the dark Digimon pretending to be harmless innocents don't have an opportunity to regain their power and damage my props."

Props?

The Chosen Children. The stage he'd set for Ryo's arrival.

"I wouldn't be so cocky," Yamato said, backing up Taichi. "If you were Mugendramon…"

"Then you couldn't defeat me without a god intervening to save you… and I am the only god here to heed your prayers." This laugh was mocking. "I'm the only Ken you remember. Your father invited me to dinner just last week. Is this all your gratitude for the tech support is worth, Child of Friendship? Run off with your tail between your legs, the way you did when Ryo first faced me to save you pathetic little brats."

"I think he's mad because you're blocking his view of Ryo," Patamon said, hovering behind MIllenniummon's head to peer around it.

Taichi jerked, startled. Looked to where Tailmon was standing in front of Hikari. Eyes wide, he stared down at Ken.

"You?" Millenniummon wondered, a little disgusted.

"Oh, don't tell me," Taichi groaned. "I'm right, aren't I. That's what this is about?" He groaned again. "And I thought one of Vamdemon's minions stalking my sister with binoculars was creepy!"

"That's what all this was about?" Mimi demanded. "Possessing Ken, tricking everyone: you couldn't just tell us? I forgave Tailmon, and she hurt Togemon. You could have just said."

"It is not that simple."

"Yes it is."

"Only for you, Child of Purity."

"And you're supposed to be some kind of genius," Mimi accused him. "You know, I bet all the brains in there are Ken's, because you're certainly not helping any. Since you were acting like him, then clearly Ken understood 'not being a jerk to people you want to like you.'"

"They're partners?" Yamato asked, the penny dropping. "I mean, I knew Ken had a crush on Ryo…"

"He did?" Osamu asked.

"It was… kind of obvious from all the pining and insisting he had to come back someday?"

Taichi shook his head. "Wow, I can't believe I was the first to figure out they were partners."

"You're really just shooting yourself in the foot," Mimi told Millenniummon, shaking her finger in front of his face. "I know how lonely Palmon was without me, but you didn't have to possess someone to borrow their partner, even if Wormmon is absolutely adorable. You have to be honest about your feelings."

"Yes, Child of Purity. My inability to lie to my partner is such an advantage. It didn't just ruin years of work and earn me my partner's disgust. Get out of my face before your face becomes that of a centenarian."

"Oh for goodness' sake, it's like you want Ryo to hate you."

"If he hates me, then he will come find me."

"And from what I hear, when he found you he'd kick your butt." Mimi gave him a skeptical look. "Hmm, no, I don't think you're a masochist."

Jou sputtered.

"No," she decided. "You're not a masochist, and if Ryo liked hurting people you'd have a black eye by now, since you're trying so hard to ask for one."

"I am not interested in relationship therapy from someone who has never experienced conflicting desires for more than a picosecond."

"Well, clearly you need it," Mimi pointed out. "You're obviously not getting anywhere on your own, and if you think ridiculous schemes are going to going to do anything but creep people out! You're still here, aren't you?" She nodded, and leaned forward to look him in stolen indigo eyes. "You need to get out of Ken," she told him. "Every second you're in there is hurting Ryo, and I know you can't want to hurt your partner."

His eyes narrowed, watching her, but he said nothing.

"Oh," she realized. "While you're in Ken's body, Ryo is looking at you. He can't stop thinking about you, because he has to help his friend." She patted him on the shoulder. "You're his partner. I promise you that he'll never forget about you. You don't have to be his archnemesis for him to keep thinking about you. I know that if you called him to the Digital World, he'd come, just like I would for Palmon."

He looked down for a moment, and if Ryo didn't know better he might have taken it for avoidance instead of plotting.

Mimi nodded and patted him on the shoulder again: did she really think the evil god was in need of consoling? Right, Ryo realized, she really didn't remember what he was like, not as Millenniummon anyway. The other Chosen had said something about how Millenniummon had used different tactics when he was Mugendramon because his plans were different, so Ryo had no idea what Mimi remembered experiencing when she fought this guy.

"You are like Tailmon. She searched, and Kari didn't come, but that was because Kari didn't know, otherwise she absolutely would have. We both know that you wouldn't really have been happy if Ryo forgot about you and only loved you as long as you pretended to be someone else. That's not loving you, that's loving Ken. So," she said, raising a finger. "You can have one hug, if you promise to leave Ken's body after Ryo hugs you. Then you really should give everyone a couple of weeks to be sure that Ken is okay, and then you can bother Ryo again. If you're so convinced that Ryo won't come to see you, then I suppose you can take someone hostage, as long as they don't get hurt and don't end up missing exams or anything like that."

"Mimi, are you advocating kidnapping?"

"Well, he is a villain, of course he was going to think of it anyway if I could," she informed Jou. "But I don't think Ryo will be very impressed or happy if you do that. Well? That was what you wanted out of today, wasn't it? For your partner to hug you? Even if he wasn't glad to see you, he will be glad when you're out of Ken, so there's that too."

Rapid calculations flashed behind stolen eyes. Millenniummon smile was vicious. "How ridiculous, but this compulsion is ridiculous. You're correct, that would make it shut up." That expression of barely restrained fury did not belong on Ken's face. There only a moment, and then he smiled again, assessing Mimi. "Long enough for me to act counter to the pull towards Ryo. And I'd already decided to kill you first because your power might have damaged my deception. How interesting that the Child of Purity, whose power allows her to dispel programs, allows the compulsion to control her like the rest of you puppets. If I could risk interacting with you, I should have asked you for data, when you might have been able to detect your partner bond infringing on your free will..." He considered a moment, but only a moment, ignoring the others looking around to see if any of them know what he was talking about or how worried they should be. "Not a technical hug that only lasts an instant. He has to hold me until I am able to withdraw."

"Yes, but only a hug. No funny business."

"I am not a fool."

She tapped her foot impatiently. "Well, you could have fooled me."

"For a human still in their child evolution to experience certain adult-state activities harms them. If I was able to harm Ryo?"

"Yes, yes, you'd have blown us up already."

"Oh no. As Millenniummon I captured you for test subjects. Most of you would have been tested to destruction by now, certainly. You might still be alive, depending on whether or not I'd managed to crack your ability to dispel mind control yet. Since it hasn't freed you from your partner bond, it's clearly deeply flawed..."

"Doesn't Ryo get a say in this?" Jou asked.

"Well, Miyako said she and the other brainiacs don't have any better ideas," Mimi said, gesturing at the other girl with oddly-colored hair, "and I assume we all want Millenniummon out of Ken sometime today." So unless someone else had any better ideas, this was the most efficient way to deal with this.

"What about not negotiating with terrorists?"

"He's not threatening Ken, thank goodness. If he was stupid enough to threaten Ken when this entire big elaborate scheme of his hinged on Ryo caring about Ken, then there really would be no help for him. But I simply refuse to believe that someone who supposedly beat all of us could possibly be that stupid."

Ryo drew in a breath. "I'll do it," he said, forcing the first words past his lips since Gennai got here.

Millenniummon's hands were still tied behind his back, which made it a little easier. Ryo didn't want him to be allowed to stand up, so he crouched down next to him.

It was easier than he'd thought: there wasn't any tough hide or cold aura of power to remind him of Millenniummon.

Safe he felt himself register when a still-thin chest pressed against his.

His partner.

So that was why.

He stiffened a bit when Ken's stolen face was pressed against his neck, but that mouth didn't open. Ryo felt him draw in a slow breath, shudder, and let it out. Another breath, and this time the body in his arms seemed to relax, deflate, and he wanted to believe that it really was because something was leaving it.

Then it stiffened. "Huh?" Ken said, and shook himself awake. "Ryo!" he exclaimed when he saw who was holding him, and Ryo found himself hugged again.

What Ken said… some of it was a little too similar to what Millenniummon had said with his lips, even with the shock, but it was awhile before Ken stopped focusing on Ryo to ask if he'd missed something, because he hadn't planned to ask anyone else to be there in case his calculations were wrong and he'd just gotten everyone's hopes up.

His arms wrapped around the partner sitting his lap, Wormmon's face pressed against his chest, Ken said, "They… seem like my memories." Ken was still wide-eyed and clearly having a hard time getting over the fact that he was having this conversation. "But four years… That's a lot of my life. Maybe it's just been so long that I've forgotten what I was like before, enough I just can't tell the difference between how I would act and how he would act pretending to be me."

"He said that he was letting you have your own emotions about the memories so he could study them to imitate you," Ryo said. "He said that you were dreaming a beautiful dream, and that he kept your memories a day behind his."

"Well, that's a relief, that probably the things I think are my thoughts are mine… I think I still remember how to do everything I learned how to do since I went to the Digital World for the first time, even if I guess I wasn't the one who learned those things…" He was silent for a moment, just stunned, before he pulled himself together to say. "Well, if I can't tell the difference, Wormmon, then you really can't blame yourself for not knowing, okay?"

"Uh…" Daisuke said, and looked at Taichi and Yamato before deciding to say nothing.

"What is it, Daisuke?" Ken asked.

Cheeks red, Daisuke practically squeaked "Nothing!" and grabbed V-mon to run for it.

"What was that all about?" Taichi asked.

Yamato and Sora looked at him, then at each other. "Our fearless leader." Yamato said.

"I think he was acting like how Ken would be if he liked Ryo," Sora took pity on Taichi to say. "But Ken isn't Ryo's partner."

"But Wormmon, what about you?" Ken asked his partner, and now he let himself look a little frightened instead of just incredulous. Or maybe it was just that Ken was Ken, and while realizing he'd been possessed by Millenniummon was shocking, realizing that Wormmon had spent years in Millenniummon's hands was terrifying. "I, I remember being, I mean I remember him being nice to you, but…"

The little bug shook his head. "He was nice to me. Was that all it took to trick me? I really am pathetic."

"Oh Wormmon… You wouldn't mistake V-mon for me, right? Or Daisuke, or Ryo, or Gennai, or Terriermon and Lopmon…"

It was a relief to hear that lots of people were nice to Wormmon these days. Then again, "He said he used Wormmon to practice, or pretend that he had a partner who loved him the way Wormmon loves you," Ryo told Ken. "Millenniummon didn't care that much about his tools when we fought him, but that was because there were more where that came from." If he wanted a particular tool, he'd just bring them back to life with full memories the way he had Vamdemon and those others the first time Ryo fought him.

"Right, he wouldn't let Wormmon get hurt, not when he was practicing for his partner." Ken let out a sigh of relief. "If he was being so…" He searched for a word and gave up. "If he took so many precautions and did such a good job making sure he could keep pretending to be me, then there's no way he wouldn't have been flawless with you, Wormmon, not when he was pretending you were his partner. That's a relief," Ken held Wormmon tighter. "I remember what he thought about us, so it's hard to believe that when he was pretending to me he pretended to be that smart. I guess he just wanted to be a less embarrassing version of me. Thought his partner deserved someone better than someone who got taken over and didn't even notice."

Ryo closed his eyes, bowing his head and tightening his fists.

"Ryo, you can't blame yourself for this," Ken said.

It happened to you because of me, Ryo knew he should say, but words seemed more daunting right now than any battle ever had. Maybe it was because no matter what he said he couldn't win this, couldn't make it right.