Japanese Title: Cockatorimon, the Captain of Illusions!
The kids continue walking until they exhaust himself, to the concern of their Digimon. Taichi is especially guilt-ridden after the events of the previous episode, though Mimi encourages him to keep going. Palmon fantasizes about becoming a giant Togemon who can give everyone shade, until Mimi points out that, what do you know, there is a giant cactus next to them! The kids run to the cactus... only to find out that there seems to be no shadow from the cactus, and are even more confused when the cactus disappears, having been a mirage.
Another light appears and Gennai returns, and the kids yell at him, asking why their Digimon haven't evolved. Gennai explains that the Crests and Tags will only evolve their Digimon the right way if the kids raise their Digimon properly, but unhelpfully disappears before he can explain how. Now more confused than ever, the kids wonder if they're really capable of raising their Digimon "correctly".
As if their situation weren't already confusing, a giant luxury liner cruise ship starts coming at them in the middle of the desert. The ship turns out to be driven by a Numemon and, seeing the exhausted Koromon, Taichi asks if they can rest on the ship. Mimi eventually gets the Numemon to allow them on by flirting with him, and the ship turns out to be quite luxurious.
Having learned absolutely nothing from their previous encounter with suspiciously luxurious amenities, the kids bathe and gorge themselves on food. (Hunger seems to dull their ability to detect evil.) While Taichi and Jou discuss the definition of raising Digimon “properly” at the pool, they're watched over by a Cockatrimonnote , who recognizes them as the Chosen Children and tries to report to Etemon, who's busy giving a horrifically bad performance to his Gazimon. Unable to contact Etemon, Cockatrimon decides to kill the Chosen himself, and orders his part-time Numemon workers to capture them for a raise.
The Numemon catch Jou and Taichi in a net, and Gomamon narrowly avoids this fate by somehow summoning fishes out of the pool. The Numemon approach Koromon, but Taichi evolves Koromon to Agumon, who staves them off until Cockatrimon himself shows up. Without further ado, Cockatrimon turns Agumon and Gomamon to stone, and takes Taichi and Jou's Crests. Gabumon, Tentomon and Tokomon, fending off Numemon themselves, also fall victim to Cockatrimon's petrifying attack.
Cockatrimon then tries to find Sora and Mimi, but upon entering the showers, finds that they've escaped out a window. He catches up with them, barely clothed and accompanied by Piyomon and Palmon. Cockatrimon reveals that he's captured the other Chosen and tied them to "fry in the sun", and intends to eat them along with the petrified Digimon. Piyomon and Palmon barely avoid Cockatrimon's petrifying attack, and the four make a run for it.
Piyomon evolves to Birdramon and Palmon to Togemon, and they make short order of Cockatrimon by stuffing him into the ship furnace. The defeat of Cockatrimon restores the petrified Digimon, and Sora and Mimi reclaim Taichi and Jou's Crests.
Seeing the Numemon flee the ship, the kids and their Digimon reason that it must be dangerous to stay on the ship and flee. Cockatrimon himself pulls himself out of the furnace and declares revenge on the Chosen. Soon after, the wandering children find themselves being chased by Cockatrimon's ship again.
The kids see another cactus and, seeing that it has a shadow, realize that it's a real cactus. They hide behind it for shelter as Cockatrimon’s ship crashes straight into it and Cockatrimon is flung straight back. The ship explodes in the air, finishing off Cockatrimon for good.
A flower sprouts from the cactus, releasing Mimi's Crest, which inserts itself into her Tag. Mimi wonders if she can bring up Palmon "properly".
Tropes
- Bathing Beauty: Mimi and Sora are both extremely eager to shower once they get in the ship.
- Dub-Induced Plot Hole: In the English dub, Mimi knows what her crest is called several episodes before that information is revealed to the characters.
- Evil Gloating: After intercepting Mimi, Sora, Biyomon and Palmon, Cockatrimon spends several seconds gloating about how he's captured the other kids and petrified the other Digimon, and about how he's going to capture them too. This gives the heroes the time to come to grips with the situation, costing him the element of surprise and, when he finally gets around to attacking, allowing them to dodge his Eye Beams and flee.
- Execution by Exposure: After capturing the boy Digidestined, Cockatrimon ties them up and leaves them to fry in the heat of the desert sun.
- Foreshadowing: At the end of the episode, Mimi's Crest blooms from a flower on top of a giant cactus, foreshadowing the way in which Lillimon "blooms" from a flower on top of the cactus-like Togemon's head when digivolving.
- Glamour Failure: The illusory cactus with no shadow.
- Heroic Seductress: Mimi convinces the Numemon to let the DigiDestined to board their ship by flirting with them.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Cockatrimon attempts to ram the kids with his ship, but he drives it into a giant cactus that flips it into the air, causing it to be destroyed—and him along with it
- Interrupted Bath: Cockatrimon launches his attack while Sora and Mimi happen to be showering. They avoid him by escaping via the window, clad only in Modesty Towels, which they wear for the rest of the encounter.
- Monster of the Week: Cockatrimon serves as the antagonist Digimon of this episode.
- No Ontological Inertia: The petrified Digimon are all returned to normal once Cockatrimon is defeated — not even killed, just beaten.
- Not Quite Dead: Even after being thrown down the ship's chimney and enveloped in a blast of fire, Cockatrimon isn't killed — he staggers up from the ship's furnace while the kids are celebrating their apparent victory and comes back for another go.
- Schmuck Banquet: The luxurious cruise ship obviously ends up being a trap.
- Series Continuity Error: Gabumon wishes he could remove his fur, but he did in episode 9", in order to keep Matt warm.
- Ship Out of Water: Cockatrimon's ship cruises through the desert.
- Taken for Granite: In order to neutralize the heroes, Cockatrimon uses his petrifying gaze to turn Agumon, Gomamon, Gabumon, Tentomon and Tokomon into stone. They turn back to normal after he's defeated.
- Thirsty Desert: The kids and their Digimon all suffer under the intense desert heat.
- Villain Song: Etemon's sole scene in this episode has him singing about how he's "the coolest cat" in the Digital World. He beats up his Gazimon henchmen when they try to join in as background singers.
