Japanese Title: Oh Friend! WereGarurumon
Yamato and Gabumon, more than a little lost, find some Digimon going around and approach them. They find themselves soon in a restaurant run by a Vegimonnote . However, as they approach, they see Vegimon casually tossing someone out — that "someone" being none other than Gomamon!
The three enter the restaurant and Yamato sees Jou there, who explains the reason he disappeared from the group: some time earlier, when they had run out for food, he and Gomamon had run into PicoDevimon, who claimed that there were a bunch of humans nearby and led them into the middle of nowhere before disappearing. Jou and Gomamon ended up at the restaurant and stuffed themselves, but when they tried to pay, Vegimon refused to accept his Japanese yennote and wanted American money. As a result, Gomamon and Jou are working at the restaurant to pay their bills.
Vegimon handles Jou poorly, and Jou explains that every time he screws up something, Vegimon extends the length of time he has to work off his food debt, extending the debt to about two weeks of work. Digitamamon, the owner of the restaurant, enters the kitchen, and tells Yamato to work with Jou to pay off the debt if he wants Jou to be released. Yamato tells Jou to stay at the restaurant, and Yamato will return with Takeru, after which he will help Jou pay off his debt.
However, fate is not on Yamato's side, as PicoDevimon appears to Digitamamon and bribes him. Digitamamon threatens Yamato that he'll put Jou in danger if Yamato doesn't work for him right then and there, forcing Yamato to give in. Jou expresses concern about Yamato, telling him to go and get Takeru and not worry about him, but an irritated Yamato snaps at him — only to feel bad for doing so right after Jou was so concerned about him. He apologizes, and Gabumon and Gomamon offer their moral support.
Jou's clumsiness causes him to make more and more mistakes, and the tyrannical shop owners continue to add more and more days to their work. Jou apologizes profusely and feels immensely bad for causing even more trouble for Yamato. Yamato bites his tongue and tells Jou not to worry about it, but internally feels tormented, wondering how long he'll have to stay before he can return to Takeru.
Meanwhile, PicoDevimon, behind the restaurant, removes a brick from a table carrying a bunch of potatoes so that they'll fall over, which will put the blame on Jou... but Sora intervenes, replaces the brick, and scampers away. Seeing this, PicoDevimon formulates another plan.
At night, Yamato plays his harmonica, and PicoDevimon interrupts him. He tells him that Jou is trying to sabotage Yamato by making mistakes on purpose so he won't be alone. Initially, Yamato believes Jou would never do that, but the doubt begins to grow...
Yamato demands to Digitamamon that he allow him to go retrieve his brother, and PicoDevimon trips Jou to make him break more plates. Having completely lost it, Yamato storms out of the restaurant in anger. Fortunately, help comes in the form of Taichi, Takeru, Agumon, and Patamon, and Jou explains the situation to them while Takeru goes to meet his brother, who is relieved to see that Takeru is safe. Taichi asks everyone to help him find the others, but Yamato, still hardened from what PicoDevimon had said, refuses to go with Jou, saying that he'll only drag them down, and says that he’ll only go alone with Takeru.
The argument is interrupted by Digitamamon and PicoDevimon, the latter of whom Takeru recognizes. With that, Jou and Yamato realize that PicoDevimon had been lying to them, and Digitamamon attacks Yamato, who responds by having Gabumon evolve to Garurumon. Garurumon ends up doing poorly in battle against Digitamamon, and Vegimon holds Takeru hostage.
Responding to this, Jou has Gomamon evolve to Ikkakumon and release Takeru, but the resulting scuffle has Jou caught as the hostage in his place, with Jou telling Yamato that he still has to keep going because Yamato had said earlier that they'll be able to do things if they do it together. Feeling horrible for what he had done as a result of his mistrust towards Jou, Yamato is unable to leave him and calls for him, causing his Crest to glow. When Digitamamon puts Garurumon and Ikkakumon in an even further bind, Yamato regains his determination to win and remembers the power of his friends, fully activating his Crest and causing Garurumon to super-evolve to WereGarurumon.
WereGarurumon makes quick work of Digitamamon and threatens Vegimon, who releases Jou. Yamato thanks Jou for saving Takeru, complete with Luminescent Blush and an apology.
PicoDevimon reports to his master that the Crest of Friendship has also caused evolution, while his master punishes him...
Taichi explains the situation in the Real World to those not caught up, and they find the familiar beeping of the presence of another Chosen nearby causing their Digivices to react. Noticing that the Digivices are indicating two different directions — and thus, two Chosen — they decide to split up in two groups of Takeru with Yamato and Jou with Taichi to find them, choosing a base of a nearby mountain as a meeting point. With that, they resolve that because they're friends, they'll easily find their way back to each other soon.
Tropes
- Confidence Sabotage: In addition to causing Yamato's friendship with Jou to be strained, PicoDevimon's subtle sabotage of Jou's work also causes him to begin doubting his dependability. After learning that PicoDevimon was the one causing his failings, Jou proved his reliability by saving Takeru from Vegimon at the expense of his own safety.
- Cultural Translation: In the original episode, Joe's original issue was that he only had yen and Vegimon wanted American dollars. In the American dub, as the audience would be used to thinking of dollars as the default money someone was carrying, this was changed to Joe only having "Digidollars" and Vegimon wanting real money.
- Mysterious Protector: Sora plays this role again, secretly sabotages PicoDevimon's attempts to extend Joe's work debt, preventing staged accidents without anyone knowing of her involvement.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Digitamamon is defeated by WereGarurumon, PicoDevimon quickly flies away. Vegimon does the same immediately after when confronted by Ikkakumon and WereGarurumon, who order him to let Jou go or face them.
- Shame If Something Happened: How Digitamamon keeps Matt from leaving — Joe has to stay at the restaurant to pay off his debt, and Digitamamon obliquely threatens his safety if Matt leaves by mentioning that a kitchen can be a very dangerous place, and so many accidents can happen if someone's working alone in one.
- Work Off the Debt: When it turned out that Vegimon did not, in fact, accept Digidollarsnote but expected to be paid in actual moneynote that Joe and Gomamon didn't have, he forced them both to work off their debt by cooking in his restaurant, washing dishes and scrubbing toilets. As is often the case with debt slavery, Vegimon finds countless excuses, such as the cost of ingredients in dishes that don't meet his standards, spilled or burnt food and dissatisfied customers, to add extra days to Joe's debt, ensuring he'll never be able to actually pay it off and that he'll be forced to do unpaid work for Vegimon and Digitamamon in perpetuity.
