Japanese Title: Shining Wings! Garudamon
The two groups of Chosen Children meet with each other and, with six of the seven children assembled, they wonder where Sora is. Mimi tells the others about the "dream" she saw of Sora motivating her to set things right in the prior episode, while Koromon remembers Sora's voice warning him not to eat the Mushrooms of Forgetfulness. Takeru wonders why, if Sora had been helping them, why she hadn’t shown up, and Yamato says that they’ll have to find her first. The Digivices pick up a signal, and they follow it.
Vamdemon gives PicoDevimon a beating for having failed multiple times. PicoDevimon shows Vamdemon a picture of Sora, and declares that her Crest of Love will never glow, because he's already given her some "advice". Since the other six children will meet with her soon, Vamdemon decides to take care of them himself when they gather.
The children, while looking for Sora, are attacked by a Flymon, and Koushirou uses Gennai's Digimon Analyzer to determine that its stings are poisonous. The children are pulled out of their pinch by Birdramon torching the Flymon, and the others are able to tail Birdramon and get to Sora. Sora attempts to run away, but Taichi, Yamato, Takeru, Agumon, Gabumon, and Patamon corner her and demand to know why she's been avoiding them.
Sora confesses that on the night she departed the group to look for Taichi, she and Piyomon had come across PicoDevimon talking to Vamdemon about the Crests. From there, she had learned about the individual meaning of each Crest: Taichi's Crest as Courage, Yamato's as Friendship, Takeru's as Hope, Koushirou's as Knowledge, Jou's as Honesty/Sincerity/Faith/whatevernote , Mimi's as Puritynote , and Sora's as Love.
Taichi says that Love fits Sora perfectly, since she's always concerned about others, but Sora lashes out and yells that it doesn't fit her at all, that Taichi doesn't know what she's really like, and that her Crest will never glow. She reveals that PicoDevimon had found her and told her that she has no love in her heart, as she was raised without any. Taichi will have none of it, knowing that PicoDevimon is nothing but a dirty liar, but Sora says that there's basis in what he said.
Sora recalls a tale of when, while on a girls' soccer team, her mother would not allow her to play for a very important match when her leg was injured. Her mother had tried to get her to quit soccer and wanted her to take part in more ladylike things. Since Sora was unable to take part in the match, the club lost the game, and she found herself unable to take part in the club anymore. Sora states her belief that her mother doesn't actually care about her and only wants to raise her as a daughter of a flower arrangement school teacher (an iemoto
) rather than as a person, and thus Sora was "raised without love".
Taichi disagrees, telling her that, even if that's true, she can't believe in what PicoDevimon says, and Sora breaks down and cries. Yamato tells Taichi to let her cry it out if she has to. Takeru reminds Sora that she was the one who got them to stop eating the Mushrooms of Forgetfulness, and Piyomon tells the story of how Sora also prevented the situation in Digitamamon's restaurant from getting worse than it was already. Piyomon explains that Sora had wanted to be alone, but still wanted to help everyone.
Takeru asks Sora not to leave them anymore, saying that he doesn’t like his "family... no, everyone becoming separated". Sora agrees to stay, and the other Chosen and their Digimon arrive, having been caught in the river while fleeing from the Flymon. Now that all the Chosen are gathered, PicoDevimon reports back to Vamdemon.
PicoDevimon beings a surprise attack on the Chosen while they're sleeping, but Piyomon sees an attack headed at Sora and takes it for her. PicoDevimon flees as the other Chosen awake and Sora fusses over Piyomon, while Vamdemon makes his appearance to the Chosen. Motimon evolves to Tentomon, Palmon to Togemon, and Gomamon to Ikkakumon, but Vamdemon proves strong.
Piyomon insists on going to help the others against Sora's wishes, and Sora recognizes Piyomon's pleas to go as similar to the ones she gave her own mother when trying to go to the soccer game. She realizes that her mother really was thinking about her first after all, and allows Piyomon to evolve to Birdramon and go on ahead to fight Vamdemon. Birdramon is quickly injured in the scuffle, and Sora runs to her screaming, triggering Birdramon's super-evolution into Garudamon. Garudamon is powerful enough to help the kids make an escape with their Digimon, leaving Vamdemon behind.
Sora reflects that she had recognized some of her mother in herself when she had tried to stop Piyomon, and realized that her mother had loved her all along.
Tropes:
- Dub-Induced Plot Hole: In the English dub PicoDevimon's Pico Darts attack had been edited out of every use so far (and would be following this episode too) as throwing poisoned syringes was considered too violent (and might scare kids with a fear of needles). However because this use was too plot important to cut (as it injures Piyomon and keeps her from fighting initially) it does get used here (although the shot of her actually getting hit is somewhat censored). Problem is, because the attack was edited out of every use except this episode to English viewers DemiDevimon suddenly has a giant needle of nowhere that he never had before and never uses again.
- Foreshadowing: At the end of the episode, Vamdemon declares that the Chosen Children will never be able to defeat him with "the power of seven". The revelation that changes that is what leads into the next arc.
- Ship Tease: At the end of the episode, Taichi declares that he "also wants some of Sora's love", while Mimi teases Jou with some of her own "love" (in the form of scarcely-edible seeds). This of course has been placed in many "evidence" lists made by many a Taichi/Sora or Jou/Mimi fan.
