Inside his desert palace, Gali summons his assassin Joker and complains about the foolish Searchers challenging Moo. Joker assures him that they're nothing to worry about: "The rebels' power is only an illusion."
Meanwhile, the Magic Stone has directed our heroes to what appears to be a dead end: a narrow canyon with walls so high that not even Golem can toss Suezo high enough to see over the top. Hare claims that scaling the cliffs would take far too much time, energy and money, and gets into an argument with Tiger about whether or not they should take the long way round. Their fight gets cut off by Mocchi's cries: he's discovered a crack in the wall leading to a big cave! Hare eagerly suggests taking this new path straight through, and leads the others further in.
None of them realize that Joker's appeared directly behind them, chuckling to himself as he watches them enter.
As they're walking along, Golem walks straight into a huge stalctite. He tears it down, accidentally triggering a cave-in. Next they have to deal with a colony of angry bats. While they're recovering from that, Tiger realizes that he recognizes the area. They've been here before. The earlier cave-in uncovered a bunch of different tunnels, meaning their chances of retracing their steps aren't that great.
Tiger sarcastically thanks Hare, blaming him for getting everyone lost. The ensuing argument has him accuse Hare of planning to steal the Phoenix once they find it, prompting Hare to say "I don't have to take this!" Bidding the others farewell, he takes off, storming down one of the tunnels. Suezo suggests that maybe they just need some time to cool down, but Genki refuses: they're a team, and they need to stick together. One by one, the others head after him, with Tiger bringing up the rear... again, unaware that they're being watched.
As they wander through the tunnel, a massive fireball comes surging out to greet them! They try to outrun it, but when it catches up, Golem whirls around and lashes out — punching right through the illusion! Joker then reveals himself, and traps each of the Searchers in a personalized illusion.
Meanwhile, Hare's having second thoughts. After being spooked, he runs wildly through the tunnels until he passes by where the others are. At first, he thinks they're doing just fine without him... until Joker comes into view. His attack breaks Joker's hold over the others.
But Joker's not finished yet. He summons a horde of Evil Hares, and during the ensuing fight Hare gets overwhelmed and pinned down. Right as he's about to finish him off, Tiger tackles him away, only to get knocked down. Joker tries to press this new advantage, but Hare jumps up and unleashes a new attack: Dragon Kick!
Joker's flung into the ceiling, triggering another cave-in. The Searchers' flight leads them down a path that takes them outside... on the other side of the cliffs! As the others celebrate, Tiger approaches Hare. He admits that originally, he was in it for the money, but that doesn't matter as much anymore. Tiger agrees, and the two make amends... until Hare starts teasing him about saving him, anyway.
This episode contains examples of:
- Achilles in His Tent: Hare leaves the group and storms off on his own after Tiger hits his Berserk Button, returning just in time to save the others from Joker.
- Badass Boast: Hare gets a different one depending on the version:
- In the original Japanese, Joker creates an illusion of a volcano erupting under the Searchers' feet, bragging that it doesn't matter if they know it's fake. Hare then Gasses the place to break his concentration, boasting about his Gas is more powerful than Joker's tricks.
- In the English Dub, that whole sequence is cut out; instead, Hare simply declares that none of them will fall for Joker's illusions now that he's been exposed.
- Battle Aura: A fiery one surrounds Hare right before he unleashes his Dragon Kick.
- Berserk Button: Hare ignores Tiger's accusations at first, up until the wolf claims that he's probably going to steal the Phoenix's disc once they find it. Then he's incredibly offended, all the more so since this is coming from Tiger of the Wind, himself a former bandit and thief.
- Big "NO!": Hare yells this when Joker's about to attack the helpless Mocchi and Genki.
- Blue with Shock: Suezo's whole body turns blue when he realizes that Golem caught him just in the nick of time.
- Bowdlerise:
- Tiger's illusionary battle with Moo is cut down to simply him seeing the villain and charging, removing a scene of Moo knocking him down and Tiger trying to bite through his neck.
- Suezo's illusion, which involves him seeing a bunch of Lookers, was completely cut out. His reaction to the illusion breaking was also edited.
- Hare using his Fartillery was cut out again, along with him getting overwhelmed by the Evil Hares.
- Cannot Tell a Joke: Golem tries to lighten the mood by pretending to be distracted by something as Suezo's falling, then catching him right before he hits the ground. Suezo isn't amused.
- Color-Coded Wizardry: Whenever Joker casts one of his illusions, the colors are briefly inverted.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: Zig-Zagged with the Evil Hares; while most of the Searchers are able to fend them off, Hare gets surrounded and overwhelmed by their sheer numbers, since Mook Chivalry is not in play.
- The Darkness Gazes Back: Mocchi first notices the colony of bats when he sees their eyes glowing in the darkness.
- Death from Above: Holly's illusion features a rain of daggers — all shaped like her father's dagger.
- Dub Text: In the original episode, Hare berates himself for impulsively leaving the team over an argument with Tiger. The English Dub adds heavy implications that he's second-guessing his place with them, especially when he sees them seemingly having fun without him, and reacting to Genki's enthusiastic welcome back by expressing surprise at how much they care.
- Faux Flame: Joker's first assault against the Searchers takes this form.
- Flipping Helpless: Hare winds up on his back after being knocked around by the Evil Hares. In the Japanese version, Joker specifically taunts him about how he can't use his Gas attack in that position.
- Giggling Villain: Joker, even moreso in the original Japanese. Hare refers to him as the 'Laughing Mask' in the latter.
- Going in Circles: After running from the bats, Tiger and Suezo realize that they've somehow looped back around to where Golem ran into the stalactite.
- Hidden Army Reveal: With a sweep of his cloak, Joker reveals that they aren't alone, and dozens of Evil Hares appear behind him. Hare even suspects it's just another illusion due to this.
- Just Fine Without You: When he finds the others, Hare initially mistakes their reactions to their illusions as them having fun without him. It's only when Joker drifts into view that he realizes what's going on.
- Kill It with Fire: Joker favors this, creating illusions of a massive fireball and an exploding volcano. Ironically, it's a fiery Dragon Kick that ultimately brings him down.
- Let's See YOU Do Better!: When Tiger declares that it's all Hare's fault that they've gotten lost, Hare counters that he didn't hear anyone else offering any bright ideas. In the original Japanese, he specifically singles out Tiger, sarcastically '-san'ning him while prompting him to share his own plan.
- Ocular Gushers: Suezo's reaction after figuring out they were trapped in illusions.
- Only in It for the Money: Tiger accuses Hare of this, even accusing him of intending to steal the Phoenix's saucer stone and sell it off. After they reconcile, Hare admits that he was originally hoping to make a profit off their adventure, though not that way, and that he's grown attached to his friends along the way.
- Outrun the Fireball: Attempted, but unsuccessful. Mocchi trips and Genki goes back to protect him.
- Playing with Fire: The Dragon Kick surrounds Hare's foot with flames.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": How everyone responds upon seeing a massive fireball bearing down on them.
- Master of Illusion: Joker's forte.
- Mister Exposition: In the original Japanese, Hare has heard rumors about Joker and his reputation, recognizing him on sight and explaining to the others. In the English Dub, he simply declares that they won't fall for his illusions.
- No-Sell: When the bats attempt to bite Golem, they only end up breaking their fangs on his rock-hard body while he looks confused.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Hare ditches the others and strikes out on his own after Tiger blames him for getting everyone lost and accuses him of plotting to betray the team and steal the Phoenix.
- Shattering the Illusion: Golem manages this first when he punches the fake fireball. Later, Joker's hold over all of the other Searchers breaks when Hare attacks him.
- Short Cuts Make Long Delays: The twisty, labyrinthine cave proves to be more of a hassle than any of the Searchers expected, to the point they start worrying that they might end up wandering around lost forever.
- Spanner in the Works: Hare proves to be one to Joker by leaving the group right before he ambushes them, enabling him to come back and break his spell.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Part of the dub's censoring changed Suezo's crying over the broken illusion to him claiming to feel sorry for how the villains "just don't seem to get it. Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo!"
- Tempting Fate: When Holly wonders if the cavern really leads to the other side, Genki replies that they'll just retrace their steps back out if it turns out to be a dead end. Moments later, Golem accidentally causes a cave-in.
- True Companions: Genki and the others reaffirm this after Hare returns.
- Villain Opening Scene: Used to introduce Joker.
- Wrong Genre Savvy:
- Hare assumes that the Evil Hares Joker summons are just another illusion. They're not.
- Notably, in the Japanese version, he's hit by a different version of this — he recognizes that the Evil Hares are real and gloats that Joker's been forced to change tactics, suggesting that they've got the upper hand. Unfortunately, he underestimates how well the Mooks are able to fight.
- You Owe Me: Played for Laughs during the ending; Hare jokes that Tiger'd better not forget how he saved him, sparking off yet another argument between the pair.
