Japanese Title: Culu Culun! Play with Culumon!
A ruckus starts at Takato’s school when it’s found that someone’s been drawing chalk lines all over the field, and Miss Asanuma tells her students to tell her if anyone finds out who the culprit might be. Takato overhears some students talking about the recent weird events at school, including the principal seeing a dinosaur and the bread disappearing, and the students speculate that it must be the school’s ghost. When Takato brings it up to Juri, Juri says that she’s seen it - when she was at the infirmary, she’d seen something rustle the medicine bottles and jump away, along with some footprints on the ceiling.
After school, Takato asks Jian if he believes in ghosts, while meanwhile Culumon watches over a soccer game going on at the school. Once everyone leaves the school and night falls, Culumon breaks open the equipment shed, draws some random lines with the chalk line-drawer, and plays with a soccer ball, but is disappointed that nobody’s there to play with him.
The next day, Takato goes to school with Guilmon, since it’s a day off for everyone but Takato has to feed the rabbits. They arrive on the scene to find some administrators talking about the new chalk lines all over the field, and while Takato feeds the rabbits, Guilmon senses a Digimon nearby. They find Culumon, who’s happy to see someone to play with, and Takato takes him to Guilmon’s hideout in the park, where they meet with Jian and Terriermon.
Jian suggests finding a Tamer who can take care of Culumon, and Takato takes him to see Hirokazu, who’s using some attack cards in a Digimon battle. Jian points out that the attack card Hirokazu used is a dangerous card that reduces defense to 0 in exchange for attack, and Takato realizes with an Imagine Spot that said mentality may not be good for Culumon. Terriermon suggests Jian’s sister Shaochungnote , but the sight of her playing with her dolls leads to another Imagine Spot of her doing nothing but dressing Culumon up. Jian asks Takato if there’s a girl in his class he might suggest, and Takato thinks of Juri, but figures that she might end up too scared of Culumon.
Despite Takato’s order to Guilmon to take care of Culumon, Culumon convinces Guilmon to play with him and leads him to the school’s equipment shed. Guilmon digs a hole so that they can get into the shed and past the locks and together they draw lines on the ground, with Culumon hoping that people will come to play with them. The (rather pentagram-shaped) drawing ends up summoning a Digimon, and when Takato, Jian, and Terriermon look for Guilmon and Culumon, they see the Digimon emergence fog coming from their school.
The Digimon turns out to be an Evilmonnote , whom Guilmon ends up pissing off by calling him small, and Culumon makes a run for it while Guilmon attacks in the hopes of protecting him. Takato, Jian, and Terriermon arrive on the scene, and Takato uses an Option Card to give Guilmon white wings to fly with. Jian in turn has Terriermon enter the battle, using a speed Option Card of his own, but the powered-up Guilmon and Terriermon are unable to stifle Evilmon. However, Ruki and Renamon appear, and Ruki uses an Option Card to make a decoy Renamon, while the real one lands an attack, defeats Evilmon, and loads his data.
Ruki says that Evilmon’s data is all they were after, and Takato calls her horrible for wanting nothing but the data of a living being. Ruki declares that Digimon are nothing other than Digimon and tries to take her leave, but she’s interrupted by Culumon, who just wants to play. Takato yells at Ruki not to dare do anything to Culumon, and Ruki obliges, walking away in silence with Renamon. Culumon, too naïve to register what had just happened, runs off aimlessly despite Takato’s protests that it’s dangerous out there, and Jian reasons that maybe Culumon doesn’t need a partner after all. They decide to leave him be...but unfortunately, the next morning, the property damage doesn’t seem to have escaped the school’s notice, and Takato and Jian decide to just go along with the ghost story rumors for now.
Tropes
- Achievements in Ignorance: Guilmon draws a pentagram from the chalk the shed on accident.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Culumon asks Guilmon why being bigger means that he has to protect it, Guilmon has no response.Culumon: Why do you have to protect me ‘cause you’re bigger?Guilmon: Well…Huh?
- Berserk Button: Evilmon's is being called small.
- Breather Episode: Takato and Jian try to find Culumon a partner. Even the battle with Evilmon is lighthearted.
- Bowdlerise: The pentagram-like drawing on the ground gets edited a bit for the dub.
- Evilmon is also changed to Vilemon, likely due to American censors usually having issues with characters that have the words evil or death in their names.
- Call-Back: Guilmon’s unseen rampage throughout the school is mentioned when children in Takato’s class discuss who could’ve defaced the school grounds.
- Curbstomp Battle: Renamon vs Evilmon. One word. Koyousetsu.
- The Ditz: What Takato and Jian definitely think of Culumon.
- Eyepatch of Power: Hirokazu sports one during Takato’s Imagine Spot of him using the attack card foolhardily on Culumon.
- Imagine Spot: After seeing some boys playing soccer, Culumon imagines itself playing along with them.
- Takato has another one when Jian notes that Hirokazu’s playstyle is entirely offense oriented. He envisions Culumon and Guilmon in a boxing match, with Hirokazu (with an eyepatch) in Culumon’s corner.
- Takato has another another one when Terriermon suggests Jian’s little sister Shaochung take care of Culumon. He envisions Shaochung playing dress up with Culumon.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: When Takato takes Guilmon with him when its his turn to feed the rabbits, Guilmon is able to sense then sniff out a sleeping Culumon who is behind an object.
- On the Next: Ruki’s character is explored and Renamon evolves into Kyubimon.Ruki and Renamon: You, too, should aim to be a Tamer!
- Pop Quiz: Asanuma Sensei pulls a surprise test on the class after announcements, to the class’ dismay.
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud:Culumon indulges in this when it sneaks into the shed after school.Culumon: Step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Evilmon is a little tricky, but acts cockier than he should.
- Spraying Drink from Nose :Takato does a subdued version of this when his classmates bring up Guilmon’s rampage.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Takato believes Digimon are living beings and is disturbed when Ruki nonchalantly “kills” Evilmon and loads its data, even thought it was attacking Guilmon and Culumon before. Surprisingly, Takato’s words affect Ruki, even for a brief moment.Ruki: No need to thank me. I was just after its data.Takato: You’re horrible! Digimon are living beings! How can you only want their data?
