Japanese Title: Dark Evolution! SkullGreymon
The kids and their Digimon look for a place where Etemon won't find them, while Taichi tries to raise everyone's spirits by declaring that they'll definitely win now that they’ve found a Crest. They try to figure out how to trigger evolution to the next level; Koushirou points out that the Digimon generally evolve when their partner is in danger and they have a lot of energy.
Following this, Taichi reasons that for Agumon to evolve, he'll have to be full of energy, and promptly stuffs Agumon full of food until he can't eat anymore. Everyone is rather apprehensive of the whole situation (especially since Taichi took all of their food to give to Agumon), including Agumon himself, but Taichi remains confident as ever.
The other Digimon express pity for Agumon, who seems to be in an awkward situation due to Taichi, but Koushirou and Sora reflect that Taichi had always been nice and caring to his fellow members of the soccer club. Sora says that normally, if he looks a little bullheaded, Taichi is eventually considerate to his surroundings, but that since he got his Crest, he's acting like a different person.
Jou's Tag begins to glow, and the others realize that his Crest must be nearby. Jou starts running to the direction he believes it to be in, but trips over a cable of the Dark Network, which alerts Etemon to their location. The location is rather far from where Etemon is, so he arranges for some Gazimon to set up a "welcome show" for them there.
The kids arrive at a coliseum, which has some mysterious things like a soccer field and a widescreen TV. Taichi tells the others to split up and look for it, but Agumon is too stuffed to move, and Jou offers to look for it with Gomamon while the others rest. Sora finds a soccer ball; the remaining kids and Digimon decide to split into two teams, humans vs. Digimon, with Palmon as the goalkeeper, but Taichi kicks the ball away and hits the Gazimon in the distance.
Taichi yells at the others for playing soccer at a time like this, but before the team can properly react — and before Jou is able to find his Crest — Etemon unleashes his trap, trapping everyone but Agumon under a goal post that shocks anyone who tries to escape. Etemon then releases his "special guest": another Greymon. With Agumon as the only one able to do anything, Taichi has him evolve to Greymon.
The two Greymon fight it out, but Taichi's Greymon starts to fall behind and ends up in a position where he'll die if he doesn't evolve further. Taichi urges Greymon to evolve further, despite there being no reaction from his Crest, and the kids realize that Greymon is moving with much slower reaction time due to Taichi having stuffed him so much. Very pleased with this result, Etemon orders his Gazimon minion to prepare the explosive "finale", but Gomamon manages to summon fishes from the surrounding fountains to prevent it.
- Jou: How were fishes able to come out from there?
Gomamon: Don't look at me, I don't get complicated stuff!
Koushirou: It's probably because there's a rift in another dimension over there.
Gomamon: ...What he said.
The kids try to dig their way out of the goalpost, only to find a rock in the way; Jou's Tag reacts again and they realize that the “rock” is actually Jou's Crest. Jou places his Tag on the rock, which inserts the Crest into it and opens up a tunnel for them to escape with.
Taichi's Greymon turns out to be in a severe liability against the enemy Greymon, and Taichi remains resolute that Greymon could win if he evolved. Taichi declares that he'll make Greymon evolve, and, knowing that Digimon evolve when their partner is in danger, throws himself directly in the path of the enemy Greymon and goads him over. Concerned for Taichi, Sora and Yamato have Piyomon and Gabumon evolve to help him. Taichi yells to Greymon that he believes in him, and orders Greymon to evolve. Sure enough, Taichi's Crest reacts...
Greymon evolves into SkullGreymon, an undead skeleton Digimon, and Taichi is smart enough to know that this doesn’t bode well. He's right; SkullGreymon is a rampaging monster, and he attacks not only the other Greymon but also everything else as well, Taichi included. Koushirou has Tentomon evolve to Kabuterimon to assist Birdramon and Garurumon in fighting SkullGreymon off, but SkullGreymon proves to be incredibly powerful and dangerous.
SkullGreymon eventually runs out of energy and reverts to an extremely exhausted and injured Koromon. Koromon apologizes to Taichi for trying to kill them and for not living up to Taichi's expectations, but Taichi apologizes in turn for his behavior, for rampaging in thinking that he could do it without a second thought.
Tropes
- Balloon Belly: Agumon when Taichi force-feeds him food to energize him.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- SkullGreymon kills the Greymon controlled by Etemon with no effort at all.
- When fighting against Birdramon, Kabuterimon and Garurumon, SkullGreymon is also no match for them. The only reason SkullGreymon stopped its rampage was that it ran out of energy and turned back into Koromon.
- Dem Bones: SkullGreymon's body is an animated dinossaur skeleton with a missile attached to its back.
- The Dreaded: SkullGreymon's analyzer description has hints of this, and the other Digimon say that any other Digimon would run away when confronted with a SkullGreymon.
- Gone Horribly Right: Taichi wanted Greymon to digivolve into the next level, but after force feeding him food and recklessly running into the battlefield, he got his wish. But not how he wanted it.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Taichi's reaction at the end of the episode, for basically pushing his partner to extreme levels.
- Plot Coupon: Jou finds his own crest in this episode, being the second Chosen Child to do so.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Taichi in this episode is pretty cocky and arrogant because he thinks that, since he got his crest, he can manage to make Greymon evolve in no time. After the events of this episode, however, he realizes that he's wrong and apologises to Koromon and the rest of the group.
