The chosen Children and their Digimon are walking through the desert. Everyone is exhausted, but pushing hard to keep going. After a moment, everyone sees a huge cactus and runs over to rest in the shade. When they get there, however, they see that the plant casts no shadow, and it vanishes and is revealed to be a mirage. The group collapses in discouraged exhaustion. Suddenly, a voice calls them, and a hologram of Gennai appears. Taichi immediately asks why Agumon wasn’t able to evolve properly, and ended up degenerated to his Koromon form. Gennai tells them to calm down and that the Tags and Crest will light each other up. He says that even with the Tags and Crests, the Digimon will not evolve properly unless they are taken care of well. Taichi asks how to take care of them, and as Gennai begins to explain, his image fuzzes out and vanishes. Taichi vents his frustration about never learning anything useful from Gennai, and everyone worriedly says they’re afraid they won’t be able to help their Digimon evolve the right way.
Their musings are interrupted by a fog horn, and they look up to see a giant cruise ship heading across the sand, straight for them. They briefly wonder if it’s also a mirage, but realize it’s not and run out of the way. The ship stops, and a Numemon peeks over the rail. Taichi, worried about Koromon’s health, asks the Numemon if they can rest on the ship. The Numemon seems unwilling, and Mimi says she’ll handle it. She bats her eyelashes and asks if they can come aboard, and the Numemon immediately falls in love and drops a ramp for them to climb.
The ship is incredibly fancy, and Mimi and Sora run to shower immediately. Yamato, Takeru, Koshiro, and their Digimon find a large meal set out. After a little rationalization, they decide to eat. Taichi and Jo are in the pool with their Digimon, with their Crests on the pool table. They wonder what Gennai meant about taking proper care of their Digimon.
Secretly watching Taichi and Jo is a human dressed as a ship captain. He looks through a pair of binoculars before his form shifts, revealing himself as Cockatrimon. He tries to send a message to Etemon to ask what to do with the children, but his network is still broken, and the message doesn't go through. Cockatrimon says he’ll just get rid of them, and promises the Numemon crew a pay raise if they capture the children. Several Numemon quickly catch Taichi and Jo in nets. Their Digimon fight back, and Koromon evolves to Agumon, but Cockatrimon arrives and uses his Petra Fire to immobilize them. He then gleefully steals the two crests.
Gabumon, Tentomon and Tokomon try to fight to defend their partners, but Cockatrimon petrifies them as well. Cockatrimon goes into the room where the girls were showering, but it’s empty. He looks around and realizes they have escaped out the window. Mimi and Sora are running through the ship with their Digimon, and Cockatrimon finds them. The girls see that he’s holding Taichi and Jo’s Crests, and Cockatrimon tells them that he’s captured everyone else and left them in the sun to dry, and turned the Digimon to stone. He says that he’s going to eat them, and the girls are horrified. Piyomon and Palmon use Magical Fire and Poison Ivy respectively. Cockatrimon counters with Petra Fire, but narrowly misses them and hits the deck as they flee.
After a brief chase, the girls are cornered on the prow of the ship. Now that there’s room, the Digimon evolve. Birdramon uses Meteor Wing, and as Cockatrimon jumps away, they realize he can’t fly. Togemon hits him, knocking him back into the ship’s smokestacks. The frozen Digimon return to normal, and Sora and Mimi free everyone else. The Numemon flee the ship, and the group decides to leave too. On board the ship, Cockatrimon pulls himself out, determined to get revenge. He drives the ship after the walking children, and they start to run away. As they’re running, they see a giant cactus and wonder if it’s another mirage. Taichi points out that it has a shadow, and everyone hides behind it. The cruise ship runs straight into the cactus and is catapulted into the sky. The ship explodes, finishing Cockatrimon.
As the group sighs in relief, the top of the cactus starts to glow. A flower opens, revealing a large stone slab, which floats towards them. They recognize it as a Crest, and Mimi’s Tag lifts up to receive it. Mimi says she didn’t want this, and worries that she won’t be able to raise Palmon properly.
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