Japanese Title: Attack of the Demon Corps
With their international journey done, the kids decide to call it a day and go home, while Hikari worries what their enemies are planning to do next. Daisuke says that they should rest for the day and prepare for what’s to come, and the level-headedness of the statement takes everyone by surprise. Ken takes his leave, and Koushirou remarks that he’s really working hard.
When Takeru returns home, his mother says that she’s seen the monsters on the news and asks if the kids have gotten involved in another Digimon incident, and Takeru says that they have but that they’re taking care of it and that she shouldn’t worry. Takeru’s mother is reassured, but she tells Takeru about the strange man she met who had talked to her about the events of three years prior. Takeru is startled and wonders if it was Mummymon.
When Daisuke returns home, he finds Jun in an unusually bad mood. The news report on TV says that the mysterious monsters have suddenly vanished, while Jun looks up at a torn-up flyer for the band contest that Yamato and his band had participated in.
Ken returns home and is approached by his mother, who’s happy to know that he was out with friends but was worried that he’d gotten caught up in the incidents in Tamachi and asks him to call her the next time he’s out late. When Ken goes into his room, he sees a strange shadow outside for a moment, wondering if it’s Archnemon.
At his house, Iori asks his grandfather how his father Hiroki died, and his grandfather tells him that he died protecting an overseas government VIP. Iori thinks about the fact that his father had died protecting others. Miyako finishes her dinner at home and feels as if everything that had happened in the afternoon hadn’t happened at all. At the Yagami household, Taichi asks Hikari what she’s going to do now in order to fight off the enemy, and tells her that sometime soon the new Chosen may have to destroy a living, non-Dark Tower Digimon as the 1999 Chosen used to something they’re not used to.
At night, Ken has a mysterious dream of defeating a large Digimon with Wormmon and another boy, seeing mysterious particles fly towards the other boy, pushing him aside, and having one of them embedded into his neck and collapsing. Ken wakes up with a jolt and asks Wormmon if he’d injured his neck at any time during their travels in the Digital World two years prior.
Wormmon tells him that he remembers the incident, after which Ken had gotten very ill to the point of near-death, but had recovered sometime after and parted ways with Wormmon. Ken’s memories of the incident are blurry, but he feels that something significant had happened to him at the time. Outside of his room on another building, two silhouetted figures discuss how they’ve found Ken’s location and are going to report it...
The morning news the next day covers a story in which several elementary students in Tokyo have suddenly gone missing. The kids feel uneasy watching the news, but Ken feels especially disturbed, feeling that something is very relevant about this news.
A MarineDevimon emerges out of the water near Odaiba, throwing all of the nearby civilians in a panic and catching the eye of Yamato’s father. Two more Digimon, LadyDevimon and and SkullSatamon, terrorize the area, and Yamato’s father drops a line to the kids about it. Takeru, Iori, and Jou tr to attack MarineDevimon with Angemon, Submarimon, and Zudomon but are forced to eventually make a run for it, while Aquilamon and Angewomon fight off LadyDevimon. LadyDevimon dispatches Aquilamon with one hit, then rekindles yet another slapping and hair-pulling catfight with Angewomon. The two grapple fiercely in the air. LadyDevimon eventually defeats Angewomon, overpowering her by painfully twisting both of Angewomon's arms against her sides. However, before LadyDevimon can finish Angewomon off, WereGarurumon and Garudamon arrive on the scene as reinforcements, causing LadyDevimon to flee.
MetalGreymon, AtlurKabuterimon, and Paildramon take on SkullSatamon, but he proves extremely strong for them. Ken recognizes the new fighting Digimon as the shadows he’d seen the night before and, when Daisuke brings up that they’re different from Digimon they’ve fought before, wonders what they’re doing if they’re not working for Archnemon, aren’t made from Dark Towers, and aren’t controlled by Evil Rings or Spirals - in fact, unseen to the kids, Archnemon and Mummymon discuss what “he” is doing and decide to let the new rogue Digimon do their thing, as it’s advantageous to them.
Taichi urges Daisuke to focus on the battle, and Paildramon ultimate evolves to Imperialdramon. SkullSatamon, however, has another trick up his sleeve, and his Nail Bone attack completely incapacitates Imperialdramon. Koushirou realizes that SkullSatamon has destroyed Imperialdramon’s data directly.
The others arrive in order to help, and Daisuke and Ken warn them to be careful. SkullSatamon causes the other kids’ Digimon to revert to their normal forms easily, while Daisuke begs Imperialdramon to move again. SkullSatamon picks up a school bus full of panicked children to use as a weapon, while Daisuke continues to worry about Imperialdramon’s immobilized state. Koushirou realizes that the elder Chosen’s Digimon have stayed in the Real World for too long, and have reverted to their Child forms so easily because of this. Miyako opens a Digital Gate in order to send them back to the Digital World so they can recover their strength, but before they return, the Digimon decide to surrender the power they were given by Qinglongmon - and, thus, their ability to evolve to Perfect level - to Imperialdramon to save him.
With the power that the other Digimon have given him, Imperialdramon performs a Mode Change to Imperialdramon Fighter Mode, and the elder Chosen’s Digimon retreat to the Digital World. Imperialdramon Fighter Mode quickly defeats and destroys SkullSatamon and saves the bus of children, but Daisuke, Ken, Iori, and Miyako are a little shellshocked from having actually killed a Digimon, even though they know that there would have been no other way to save the kids in the bus. Hikari realizes that the time that the younger Chosen would have to face this has finally come.
Right then, a mysterious dark Digimon, Demonnote appears and commands Ken to come with him, telling him that there’s something in Ken’s body that he needs. Ken remembers his dream about the mysterious particle that had been implanted into his neck, but before he can respond, Archnemon approaches Ken as well and tells him to come with her instead, revealing that she has all the kidnapped children that were reported on by the morning news taken hostage in her truck, claiming that they all followed her of their own will. She tells Ken that she’ll tell him why she has the kids if he comes with her, and Ken, worried for the children, goes with Archnemon against the protests of Wormmon and the other Chosen Children.
As Demon says that he’ll see what happens and disappears, Archnemon takes off in the truck with the children and Ken, and Daisuke, V-mon, and Wormmon chase after her.
Tropes
- All There in the Manual: Want to know exactly what happened during Ken’s travels in the Digital World with Wormmon, who was the Digimon they defeated, and who the other boy Ken pushed aside was? You’ll have to play a video game.
- Brutal Brawl: The fight between Angewomon and LadyDevimon once again devolves into a melee in which the two slap each other, pull each other's hair, and grapple mid-air.
- The Cameo / Posthumous Character: Millenniumon appears in Ken's dreams of his first time in the Digital World.
- Can't Catch Up: The elder Chosen’s Digimon actively sacrifice their ability to catch up in order for Imperialdramon to get even more ahead.
- Cat Fight: LadyDevimon and Angewomon once again end up in a slapping, hair-pulling catfight. LadyDevimon wins once again, this time by twisting both of Angewomon's arms against her sides.LadyDevimon: (Pulling Angewomon's hair) "You'd better stay out of it, blondie."
Angewomon: "Try to stop me, you witch!"
LadyDevimon: As you wish.
Angewomon: If you can! - Out of Focus: Considering that the plot point of “Digimon being unable to stay in the Real World too long without losing their strength” had never been brought up in Adventure despite the Digimon having stayed in the Real World for about an equal amount of time, it feels like the writers were just looking for an excuse to keep the elder Chosen’s Digimon out of the picture.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: The younger Chosen are forced to face this for the first time, having not done routine kills of evil Digimon like the older Chosen routinely did in Adventure.
