Japanese Title: The Evil Ring's Magic Run Wild
As the Kaiser returns to his base, we get a look into the life of Ken Ichijouji through the use of some TV reports and flashbacks. After he appears on an interview on TV, in which he modestly shrugs off the reporter’s questions, we find that Ken gets a pretty poor attitude from people around him, with his school principal sucking up to him, asking him to tutor his daughternote , and wanting an autograph. Ken, however, doesn’t handle things very well either: once he gets home, after listening to his parents talk about nothing but the interview, he goes outside to the roof and angrily proclaims everyone to be “insects”.
The next morning, Daisuke tells everyone else about the Kaiser being Ken Ichijouji. Koushirou decides that they should look into it and contact Ken in the human world. Miyako arrives with an article about Ken, and Koushirou uses a picture in the article to identify the building where Ken lives.
Ken’s parents notice that Ken hasn’t come out of his room since the day of the soccer game, not even going to school. After Ken’s mother tells his father that the teachers have given up trying to understand Ken, Ken’s father breaks down the bedroom door, only to find Ken gone from his room and a note left on the computer:
- I have nothing to do with this world anymore. Farewell, insects.
The Chosen Children arrive at Ken’s residential building only to find that the place is surrounded by police cars and that Ken is missing. The next morning, they hear from Koushirou that Ken has been missing for two days, and upon checking the Digital World map find that the Kaiser’s area has greatly expanded. They realize that Ken has decided to stay full-time in the Digital World and spend his time in conquest. Despite the time, they decide to pop into the Digital World quickly to check out what’s going on.
The Kaiser realizes that the Chosen have arrived. While Wormmon muses that he’s happy that he and Ken can be together more from now on, the Kaiser only looks at a picture of Greymon on his screen and smiles...
The kids are attacked by an Evil Ring-controlled group of Meramon, and Daisuke and Miyako quickly respond by having V-mon and Hawkmon armor evolve. Meanwhile, the Kaiser approaches a Greymon, declares that he wants him to participate in an “experiment”, and throws an Evil Ring at him...
Armadimon, Patamon, and Tailmon armor evolve to fight off the Meramon, while the Kaiser approaches, saying that although he couldn't control Andromon, he might be able to control a Perfect-level Digimon if he evolves it from an Adult-levelnote Digimon. Holding up his Digivice, he commands Greymon to become MetalGreymon and serve him as his slave. However, the reaction from the Kaiser’s Digivice causes Greymon to turn not into MetalGreymon but SkullGreymon.
The kids finally destroy the Evil Rings on the Meramon and turn towards the Dark Tower, but the Kaiser arrives with SkullGreymon. The Kaiser is still shocked at having gotten SkullGreymon instead of MetalGreymon, and SkullGreymon quickly breaks out of his control. Takeru, recognizing SkullGreymon from an earlier incident, tells the others that they need to run, and the armor evolved Digimon are quickly defeated.
SkullGreymon destroys the Dark Tower in its rampage, and the Kaiser calls in some DarkTyrannomon to get him under control, but SkullGreymon quickly tosses them aside. Finally exhausted of energy, SkullGreymon reverts to Agumon, whom Hikari recognizes as none other than Taichi’s Agumon...
The Kaiser and his army fetch Agumon and return to their base while the kids watch in horror. At the computer lab, Koushirou checks the map of the Digital World and sees that all of the areas protected by Taichi’s Agumon have gone to the Kaiser. Shortly after, he gets an email from Iori telling him about the situation, and he wonders just how far the Kaiser is going to go...
Tropes
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: No, learning Ken is actually a psychotic Evil Overlord trying to enslave a world does not stop Miyako from crushing hard on him.
- Driven to Suicide: While not explicitly stated, it’s heavily implied that Ken’s parents began to fear this after reading the note Ken left on his computer.
- Foreshadowing: Hikari’s observation that Ken’s smile looks “kind”.
- Miyako’s continued crush on Ken even after knowing he’s the Kaiser.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Ken's note is written entirely in katakana. In Japan, this is a warning that something is off about the writer or speaker.
- Hikikomori: Ken's parents burst into his room due to worrying about Ken showing this behavior.
- Shout-Out: The dub title is a reference to The Emperor's New Clothes.
