The Piximon Cometh

As Tai and Agumon continue to recover from recent events, the legendary Piximon shows up to lend a hand, putting them and the rest of the group through one of his tough training regimes.

thumb|250px|left|Episode recap for The Piximon Cometh.

Synopsis

After more walking through the desert and pondering the power of the newfound Crests, the group run into Kuwagamon, who they recognize from before, hiding underground. Kuwagamon gets a hold of Tai, and all seems lost when Agumon hesitates to digivolve due to lingering trauma from the incident with SkullGreymon. Tai rescues Agumon from the attacking Kuwagamon and they quickly find themselves in a tight situation—that is until Piximon rescues them in the knick of time. Piximon is known for his tough training of other Digimon, and explains he has heard much about the children and their Digimon, but is not impressed. He insists on training with them and informs Tai and Agumon that they will receive special training, because they need it the most.

The group decides to trust the strange Digimon and he leads them to his hidden home through at secret doorway in the desert. They find themselves in a forest and see Etemon behind them. Piximon informs the worried children that all Etemon can see is the desert, so they are safe. They begin their long ascent up a huge hill to Piximon's home, partly driven by the desire for food and arrive to find that first they will be mopping the floors. While everyone else keeps busy, Piximon leads Tai and Agumon to a mysterious cave where they are told their task is to find a way back. That night they awake to find themselves on a small boat floating down a river and while wondering how they got there, Tai falls into the water and pulls Agumon in after him.

When everybody is sleeping, Matt and Izzy's tags begin to glow. They head down the hill into the forest and Piximon spots them, informing the others of their departure the next morning. The girls joke around and claim that Joe will be the next one to disappear, causing him to accuse Piximon of their friends' mysterious disappearances. Meanwhile, Matt and Izzy continue searching for their Crests. Izzy wants to find his Crest so Tentomon can digivolve, but Matt is hoping that he'll learn something about himself, and grow as a person when he finds his Crest. They are led to a well that is slightly outside Piximon's hidden home. They find the Crest of Friendship and Crest of Knowledge inside the well walls, but because they are outside of the protected area Etemon detects the two of them and sends Tyrannomon to attack. They escape back into Piximon's forest, but Tyrannomon breaks open the invisible shield hiding it. With the other Digimon still tired from yesterday's training, their hope rests on Tai and Agumon.

Meanwhile, Tai and Agumon are still in the boat spinning down the strange river. They stop and appear on a bridge where Tai sees a younger version of himself trying to ride a bike. They help the young Tai ride his bike and he fades away into the distance. Tai and Agumon realize that the fear of Agumon digivolving into SkullGreymon was keeping them from trying, similarly to the younger Tai not wanting to ride his bike because he was afraid he would fall. They understand that the task was all about overcoming their fears and escape the "prison". Agumon digivolves just in time to save the group and destroys Tyrannomon and Etemon's Dark Network surrounding them. The children thank Piximon for his help and return to their search for the remaining Crests.

File:Adventure Epi18-1.jpg	File:Adventure Epi18-2.jpg	File:Adventure Epi18-3.jpg	File:Adventure Epi18-4.jpg	File:Adventure Epi18-5.jpg	File:Adventure Epi18-6.jpg

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance. Bolded characters are fought by the protagonist(s), and italicized characters feature non-explicitly, e.g. voice, silhouette, image.)

Humans	In-Training	Rookie	Champion	Ultimate
Taichi "Tai" Kamiya (1) Sora Takenouchi (3) Yamato "Matt" Ishida (3) Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi (3) Mimi Tachikawa (3) Takeru "T.K." Takaishi (3) Joe Kido (3)	Tokomon (3)	Agumon (1) Biyomon (3) Tentomon (3) Gabumon (3) Gomamon (3) Palmon (3) Gazimon (19)	Kuwagamon (15) Monochromon (17) Tyrannomon (20) Greymon (21)	Piximon (16) Etemon (18)

Digimon Analyser

Kuwagamon
File:DigiAnalyser-Kuwagamon2Animation.gif		Champion

		Insect Digimon Attribute Virus Special Move Scissors Arms
Palmon: "It's Kuwagamon, alright. There's no mistaking that ugly face. But he's sure bigger than he was last time."

Piximon
File:DigiAnalyser-Piximon.jpg		Ultimate

		Fairy Digimon Attribute Data Special Move Bit Bomb
Biyomon: "Piximon is famous in the digital world for his skills in training, but few have ever met him. His secret home is the Training Ground for All the Great Digimon Fighters."

Tyrannomon
File:DigiAnalyser-TyrannomonAnimation.gif		Champion

		Dinosaur Digimon Attribute Data Special Move Fire Breath
Piximon: "Tyrannomon—a huge Digimon with fire breath strong enough to cook a couple of boys like you."

Digivolutions

(Number indicates order of occurrence.)

Agumon	1	Greymon	2	Agumon

Quotes

Mimi: "A powderpuff with wings!"
Sora: "Just don't use it on your face."

—Mimi, saying the first thing that comes to her head.

"This guy reminds me of a gym teacher I once had."

—Matt, apparently reminded of bad memories by Piximon.

"I have a question. Do we trust a ping-pong ball with wings?"

—Joe, suspicious as usual.

Sora: "We could use some help."
Tai: "How can you say that? Just because we've nearly been eaten a hundred times."

—Tai making a poor arguement.

Piximon: "Just a little further."
Joe: "That's about the seventh time he's said that."

—Piximon, yet to be won over by the DigiDestined.

Sora: "Ice cream... cold root beer..."
Everyone: "STOP THAT!"

—Sora, tormenting the rest of the group with her wishful thinking.

"Is this really training, or is this just Piximon's maid's day off and he doesn't like to vacuum?"

—Matt, suspicious of Piximon's training methods.

"Hope my hand doesn't melt."

—Izzy, reaching out through Piximon's invisible portal.

Izzy: "Didn't I see this guy in one of my nightmares?"
Matt: "I wish you'd be more careful what you dream!"

—Matt and Izzy, while escaping Tyrannomon.

Young Tai: "I'm never gonna learn how to ride my bike."
Tai: "Don't give up. You can't call it quits just because of one or two mistakes you made. Man, I made plenty and I oughta know. You've just have to get up and try again."
Young Tai: "OK, I'll try."
Agumon: "We can hold you up from behind."
Tai: "See, you're doing it, you're doing great!"
Young Tai: "Hey, I'm doing it all by myself, I'm riding!"

—Tai is shown that he has to face his fears.

Other notes

Continuity errors

When Tentomon asks where Izzy's gone, he calls Piximon "Pikamon".

Animation errors

When Matt and Izzy enter the well, a view from above shows Izzy above Matt on the rope, though when they receive their crests, they appear to have swapped positions. Finally, when they exit the well, Izzy comes out first, once again above Matt.

Dubbing changes

There's a moment during the group's brief meditation, when Piximon's pointed stick is seen flying through the air, and then Gabumon jumps as if out of shock. Originally, this was accompanied by the sharp sound of the stick making contact with something, most likely Gabumon. In the English dub, this sound is omitted.

Digimon references

Another Kuwagamon appeared in the first episode of the series.

Real-world references

The title for this episode comes from The Iceman Cometh, a play written by Eugene O'Neill. This allusion is used again to a much more obvious extent in an episode of Digimon Tamers.
At one point in the English dub, Piximon says "Far from over, your training is", in the style of Yoda from Star Wars.

Miscellaneous trivia

Piximon announces the episode title in the Japanese episode.