Japanese Title: Defeat Gorimon! A Tamer's Trial!
With everything calmed down, Jian has Galgomon do a handstand for an extended amount of time in order to burn off his energy. Takato sees that Galgomon hasn’t devolved to Terriermon immediately, but Jian says that he should go back to normal soon. Seeing that Jian seems to have known this kind of thing would happen if Terriermon evolved, Takato asks if Terriermon had evolved in the past, and wonders what evolution means for a Digimon.
While at home in the bath, Takato wonders what Guilmon would be like if he evolved and if Jian’s gone home yet. Jian happens to be still at the park, and as he waits for Galgomon to devolve, he recalls a memory of having Terriermon fight with a Gorimonnote inside a Digimon video game. He emerges from his reminiscence to find Terriermon back to normal, and the two go home. At their homes, Takato designs a potential evolution for Guilmon, while Ruki tries to figure out a strategy for Renamon to win but can only conclude that things would be easier if Renamon evolved.
The next morning, Culumon watches over some schoolkids, while Hirokazu gives Takato an Option Card with training gibs, explaining that it’s a basic training item, and Takato wonders if it has any connection to evolution. At the mysterious Government Agency of Fiction, the Bridge Bunnies report another Wild One, and when Takato discusses with Jian, whether the training gibs card is useful for evolution, they run into a mysterious fog that Takato recognizes as a potential emerging Digimon. Jian and Takato make a run for it, but the fog seems to follow them, and when they split up, the fog turns out to be following Jian and Terriermon specifically. Takato, seeing that this could end badly, goes off to fetch Guilmon.
Despite Jian and Terriermon’s attempts to hide, the Digimon emerges as a Gorimon, and Takato and Guilmon arrive on the scene. Terriermon and Jian recognize the Gorimon, and Jian yells at the Gorimon to stop and that Terriermon won’t fight him again. Guilmon holds the Gorimon off while the others hide, and Terriermon insists on joining the battle. He intervenes when Guilmon gets in danger, and when Jian tells him to stop, Terriermon protests that Jian was the one who once told him to fight.
This triggers a flashback for Jian; one day, he’d received a Digimon game as a Christmas present from his father, and when he played the game, Terriermon had been his assigned player Digimon. However, a Gorimon mysteriously disappeared through the net gate, and when he appeared, started destroying everything. In order to stop the rampage, Jian slashed some Option Cards in order to power Terriermon up in the game and ordered him to finish off Gorimon. The result was that Terriermon became powerful enough to evolve but promptly went berserk and continued to go chase after Gorimon with violent intent even after he’d fled. Jian promptly realized that Terriermon had become just as savage as Gorimon in doing so.
In the present situation, Terriermon and Guilmon have trouble fending off Gorimon, and Takato’s attempt to use an Option Card to help Guilmon does little. Takato asks Jian to have Terriermon evolve, but Jian responds that he can’t, and has another flashback: he’d asked his father about Digimon, and his father had replied that Digimon, just like wild beasts, battle in a constant survival-of-the-fittest struggle. Jian’s father reassured him that he shouldn’t worry because Digimon is just a game, and with that Jian tries to feel better about Terriermon’s situation, but seeing an injured Terriermon collapse over from his rampage caused him to realize that it’s more than a game and began to cry. This caused one of his Option Cards to transform into a mysterious blue card, and when he swiped it through his scanner, the scanner turned into a Digivice and Terriermon emerged into the real world, while Jian cried over him.
As he snaps back to reality, Jian insists that there must be a way to solve the Gorimon problem without having Terriermon evolve, and realizes that he can use the training gibs card Hirokazu had given Takato. Jian slashes the card through his Digivice, giving Terriermon the training gibs on his ears, and Terriermon throws the gibs onto Gorimon to limit his movement.
The combined efforts of Guilmon and Terriermon defeat Gorimon, but when Terriermon lands the final blow, Jian forbids Terriermon from loading his data. Terriermon obliges and Gorimon’s data disappears, and Jian figures that it must have gone back to “the other side”. After everything’s over, Takato comments that Jian and Terriermon have good teamwork, and Guilmon says that he and Takato should try their best too, to which Takato agrees. Terriermon, meanwhile, tells Jian to take it easy with his signature “moumantai”.
Tropes
- A Day in the Limelight: This episode focuses on Jian and Terriermon, specifically how they met and how Terriermon evolved into the Adult level Galgomon for the first time.
- Brick Joke: Guilmon attempts to do a handstand many times while Gargomon is doing to detransform. Guilmon eventually pulls it off when it is thrown by Gorimon, albeit for one second.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Training Gibs card Hirokazu gives to Takato becomes very important in the battle against Gorimon.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Gorimon’s special attack is creatively named “Power Attack”.
- Framing Device: The flashbacks used throughout the fight with Gorimon show how Jian and Terriermon first became partners.
- Fog of Doom: Gorimon materializes as a fog cloud that chases Takato, Jian and Terriermon before it Realizes.
- Hand Cannon: Gorimon wields a fearsome blaster on its left arm.
- Happy Dance: Terriermon asks Henry if he can at least do one in the dub when he's forbidden to load Gorillamon's data.
- Killer Gorilla: Monster of the Week Gorimon is obviously based on a simian.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Jian and Terriermon attempt to reason with Gorimon, but Guilmon charges at it to attack and gets stomped on his head.
- Moment of Weakness: Jian suffers one after Gorimon returns from a mysterious disappearance and goes on a rampage. Consumed with rage, Jian preformed numerous Card Slashes which ended up making Terriermon evolve into Gargomon.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Jian instantly regrets making Terriermon evolve and go on a rampage.
- On the Next: The gang have fun with Culumon and look for an owner for him.Jian and Takato:You, too, should aim to be a Tamer!
- Shapeshifter Mode Lock: In contrast to the two prior series Digimon do not automatically revert to their Child level once a battle concludes.
- Take a Third Option: Rather then have Terriermon evolve or be destroyed, Jian uses a card to help power him up, and defeat Gorimon instead.
- Tears of Remorse: Despite his father telling him Digimon are just programs, Jian weeps after pushing Terriermon too hard.
- Tender Tears: Jian cries over Terriermon even when he still thinks he's just a video game character.
- Toilet Humor: On the American Digimon game, Terriermon takes a dump and flushes it offscreen, much to Jian’s delight.
