Japanese Title: The Kindhearted Hero Leomon Dies!
Culumon is transferred from his cage to a locked-in sphere, where he wonders if he’s been there before. He tries to see if he can use some kind of Digimon strong attack to get out, but is unable to manifest anything.
Ruki’s group wonders if they’ll be able to find Takato, Jian, and Terriermon. Meanwhile, Takato, Jian, Terriermon, Shaochung, and Lopmon encounter more DigiGnomes, and Jian wonders if they want something from them. Jian asks Lopmon if he knows about Culumon, and Lopmon tells him that their “god” wanted to secure the light of evolution and used fragmented Digimon to create the Devas. He says that Culumon was taken to where his god, Zhuqiaomon, is, but Jian is reluctant to approach it with Shaochung in tow and Lopmon refuses to allow them across for fear of their safety.
Zhuqiamon tells Culumon that he’s not a Digimon, and that he must regain his “former shape” and give the light of evolution to all the Digimon around. Culumon insists that he’s a Digimon.
With Ruki’s group, Growmon asks Leomon why he became Juri’s partner, and Leomon redirects the question to Growmon and Kyuubimon. Growmon says that he’s partnered to Takato because Takato created him, and Kyuubimon says that she chose Ruki for her strength but doesn’t remember how exactly she got to the real world in the first place. Juri apologizes to Leomon for not being a very strong Tamer, but Leomon declares that his partnership to Juri must have been “fate”.
Takato offers to go check Zhuqiaomon’s residence with Terriermon so that Jian doesn’t have to leave Shaochung. Before they can come to a full decision, however, Beelzebumon attacks. Jian matrix evolves Terriermon straight to Rapidmon, but he’s unable to leave a mark on Beelzebumon and Takato screams for Guilmon. Far away, Ruki’s group hears Takato’s voice, and a passing light beam appears; hearing Takato’s voice coming from it, they decide to enter it.
Stressed, Shaochung begins to cry, and Rapidmon shows no signs of being able to continue fighting with Beelzebumon. Takato tries to remind Beelzebumon of his happy times together with the Tamers as Impmon, but Beelzebumon declares that That Man Is Dead. Ruki’s group appears, having been transported by the light stream, and Takato is reunited with Growmon but continues to be bothered by the revelation that Guilmon is just data.
Beelzebumon shrugs off Kyuubimon, Guardromon, and Growmon’s attacks, and Takato, declaring that Beelzebumon has gone too far, eggs Growmon on to keep attacking while Juri is visibly shaken by Takato’s sudden bout of anger. Beelzebumon is about to finish off Kyuubimon when Leomon intervenes and holds him back, telling him that he’s only being used as a pawn by someone else. Beelzebumon refuses to listen, but Leomon insists that he’s learned how to truly become strong through his experiences with Juri. Beelzebumon’s response is to kill Leomon right then and there and load his data. As he disappears, Leomon’s last words to a despairing Juri is that this is his fate.
Juri’s Ark goes black and she completely falls apart, while an angered Growmon prepares to fight and Takato causes him to evolve to MegaloGrowmon in his anger. Juri pushes everyone else away, wanting nothing but for everyone to stay away from her and for Takato to snap out of his bloodlust. Believing that the only thing MegaloGrowmon can do to hurt Beelzebumon is to evolve, Takato outright orders MegaloGrowmon to do so, causing Hypnos’s systems to detect a “Digital Hazard” that could potentially affect the real world and Jiangyu, at home, to see signs of a crisis on his computer.
As the mark on MegaloGrowmon’s chest begins to glow, Takato urges him to keep evolving, and MegaloGrowmon transforms into the vicious and dangerous Megidramon. Takato immediately realizes that his negatively charged wishes have led to something bad, and as Juri screams for him to stop, Takato’s Ark shatters.
Tropes
- Break the Cutie: The start of Juri's Trauma Conga Line, which would last until almost the end of the series.
- Dub Induced Plothole: One that affects the final act of the series. In the dub, Leomon tries to comfort Jeri as he lays dying about how she has a lion's heart. In the original Japanese version, as Leomon is dying, his final words are about how this is his destiny. And he does not really direct them to Juri, although since he had previous told Juri his beliefs in fate, it is clearly lost on anyone else but her. Since destiny/fate was exactly what her father and doctors said when her mother died this was exactly the worst thing he could have said. The dubbers eventually realized this was going to be important, but as the line had already been changed and aired, there was no time to actually do anything about it. They even tried to incorporate it into Jeri's backstory, but to no real avail.
- Face Death with Dignity: Moreso in the dub in the in the original, but Leomon doesn't panic as his data disintegrates, instead choosing to focus on Juri one last time before he dies for good.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: The Tamers and their Digimon have a conversation as to what led the Digimon to end up with their respective partners. Leomon says it was fate that led him to Juri.
- Freak Out: Juri, Growmon AND Takato all experience this, though Takato takes the cake for it when he forces MegaloGrowmon to evolve further into the horrific Eldritch Abomination that is Megidramon.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Likely the only way they got away with Beelzebumon stabbing Leomon through the stomach is because he immediately begins to disappear into data.
- "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: The heroes try hard to get through to Beelzebumon, but to no avail. Takato eventually loses patience, which leads to a Rage Breaking Point when Leomon is killed.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Take a wild guess.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Takato almost never gets angry at anyone, so when Juri notices him this way she's rather stressed.
- Spoiler Title: You don't say.
- Wham Episode: For Tamers and the series as a whole as Leomon dies permanently. Digimon had died before (Angemon and Wormmon), but they always reformed into Digieggs, and returned to their partners. But due to the way Digimon have their data absorbed by other Digimon after they're killed in Tamers, there was no chance of Leomon ever returning, making his death serious and irreversible.
- Wham Shot: Beelzebumon angrily attacking Leomon...and impaling him through the stomach. The heroes and audience alike are horrified that one of their own has been mortally wounded. Shortly after, Juri's Digivice screen goes black — unlike in the previous series, he's not coming back.
- What Have I Done: Said word for word by Takato once he lays eyes on Megidramon.
