Japanese Title: The Target is Ikuto!? Gotsumon's Plot
In the infirmary at DATS headquarters, Masaru struggles against a pair of doctors. Ikuto is there as well, struggling against his own pair of doctors. Both boys desperately want to go back to the Digital World: Ikuto to get home, Masaru to save the old man and take another shot at Merukimon. Tohma, Yoshino and Commander Satsuma enter and tell everyone to settle down. Satsuma explains that the old man who saved them is Yushima Hiroshinote , the Commander-General of DATS. Masaru thinks that this is even more reason to go back to the Digital World and save him, but Satsuma forbids them from returning and orders Masaru to submit to a physical exam.
Later, Satsuma debriefs Tohma and Yoshino in the command center. They explain the sequence of events leading up to their escape from the Digital World. The commander is concerned about Merukimon's claims.
Back at the Digital World, Merukimon surveys the devastation of his throne room. He is angry that the humans took Ikuto and Falcomon with them when they left. Gotsumon asks permission to go to the human world to get Ikuto and Falcomon back. Merukimon grants it, and Gotsumon leaves, secretly smirking to himself.
Back in the human world, Masaru and Ikuto have both snuck into the DATS command center. Ikuto angrily wails on the Digital Dive's housing unit, while Masaru hits random keys on a console to try and turn the machine on. Tohma and Yoshino enter the room and demand that the two of them stop before they break the machine, but with one last slam and stomp, Masaru and Ikuto do just that. Masaru sheepishly apologizes and asks Tohma if he can fix the machine, only for Tohma to frostily inform him that the system is so badly damaged that it will take two weeks to repair.
Commander Satsuma enters at that moment. He's actually pleased that the Digital Dive is out of commission, since now the agents can't disobey his orders and sneak back to the Digital World. He then gives them a rundown of the events which led to the foundation of DATS: ten years earlier, he and Yushima were detectives brought on to investigate a string of bizarre disappearances in the area. Their investigation led to the shocking discovery of another world, to which the victims had been transported. Together with a team of scientists—including Daimon Subaru, Akihiro Kurata, and the Noguchi familynote —they mounted an expedition into this strange other world to look for the missing people. It did not go well; their base camp was destroyed, and they were attacked by hostile Digimon and forced to retreat without ever finding anyone.
He then reveals that the Noguchis were Ikuto's parents, to the shock of everyone present. He explains that Ikuto was sucked into the Digital World as a baby, and his parents joined the expedition specifically to bring him back home. Now that Ikuto is finally back in the human world, Satsuma asks the DATS agents to bring him to meet his parents.
The next day, Ikuto struggles against Masaru as the latter tries to drag him into a car. The boy stubbornly insists that he is a Digimon, not a human, and that his only mother is the late Frigimon. Masaru loses patience with Ikuto and picks him up. Yoshino is driving them on this road trip, while Tohma stays behind to try and repair the damage done to the Digital Dive.
A long car ride ensues, during which Ikuto can't help but marvel at the—to him—strange and unfamiliar sights of the human world. He soon gets carsick, however, forcing Yoshino to make a quick pitstop so he doesn't throw up all over the car. While they're stopped, Masaru buys everyone some food. Falcomon finds it delicious, and Ikuto begins eagerly chowing down. Yoshino asks why Masaru is being so nice to Ikuto suddenly. Masaru denies this, but Yoshino doesn't buy it.
In the Digital World, Gotsumon grumbles to himself as he flies around in search of a Digital Gate. The one in the Infinite Ice Ridge is out of commission, having been destroyed when Merukimon tried to stop the humans from escaping. As he passes over a forest, he notices three grey lumps rising above the treetops. He muses that they could be useful as a Digital Gate begins to form above him...
Back in the real world, Yoshino grumbles to herself at the fact that everyone else in the car has fallen asleep—including Masaru, who was supposed to keep her company on this long road trip. They have entered the countryside and are just starting to drive up a mountain road when she gets a call from DATS; three Digimon signatures have been detected in the area. Yoshino goes offroad, waking Masaru in the process.
In a nearby forest, the peace and tranquility are shattered as monstrous mandibles slice through the trees. Three Okuwamon have materialized and are going on a rampage. Gotsumon rides on one of them, commanding the beasts to search for Ikuto.
The DATS agents soon arrive on the scene. Lalamon promptly digivolves to Lilamon and carries Masaru into the air so he can punch one of the flying Okuwamon. Agumon then digivolves into GeoGreymon and gets into a wrestling match with one of the Okuwamon; despite the Okuwamon being a level higher than him, GeoGreymon wins, shoving it into a cliffside so hard that it collapses on top of the Okuwamon and buries it in the rubble. Lilamon does well against another of the Okuwamon, and Gotsumon is shocked that his Ultimate-level cronies are being defeated so easily.
GeoGreymon digivolves into RizeGreymon. Two of the three Okuwamon are dealt with in short order, and Gotsumon decides to retreat. But Falcomon begs Gotsumon to take him and Ikuto back to the Digital World, not understanding that Gotsumon has been trying to kill the two of them. Gotsumon refuses, claiming that everyone hates Ikuto because he is the reason the humans keep coming to the Digital World and causing problems for Digimon. As he leaves, he spitefully confirms that Ikuto was never a Digimon and has always been a human. Ikuto does not take this revelation well.
Some time later, Masaru, Yoshino, and Ikuto reach their destination: a secluded home in the middle of the woods. It is time for the boy to meet his parents...
Tropes
- Alien Sky: Discussed. The Digital World has floating rock formations, circuit boards, and other weird stuff floating in its sky. The fact that the human world doesn't have these things weirds Ikuto out.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Gotsumon brings three Okuwamon—giant Digimon resembling grey stag beetles—to be his muscle on his mission to kill Ikuto and Falcomon.
- Call-Back: Once again, Masaru sneaks into headquarters after hours and tries to use the Digital Dive to go to the Digital World. Unlike the previous time, it doesn’t work.
- Empty Piles of Clothing: As Satsuma describes the string of disappearances that led to the discovery of the Digital World, we're shown a woman walking down the street before suddenly vanishing into thin air, leaving her clothes and purse behind.
- Epic Fail: Masaru manages to brick the Digital Dive's systems so badly that it will take two weeks to repair.
- Fish out of Water: Having grown up in the Digital World, Ikuto is blown away by the strangeness of the human world.
- Foreshadowing: Satsuma namedrops the other members of the initial expedition to the Digital World. One of them, a scientist named Kurata, will become extremely important in a few episodes.
- The Reveal: Commander Satsuma reveals a lot of important information about the foundation of what would become DATS and the motives for that first expedition to the Digital World, all of which comes as a surprise to the characters and the viewers.
- Skyward Scream: Ikuto does this after Gotsumon confirms that he is indeed a human, and not a Digimon as he always believed.
- Uncertain Doom:
- Yushima was last seen in the previous episode staying behind to buy time for the protagonists to escape from Merukimon. He does not appear in this episode and Merukimon makes no mention of what happened to him, leaving his fate uncertain for now.
- Apart from Ikuto, the show does not reveal what happened to the other people who disappeared into the Digital World.
