WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 20 of Digimon Adventure 2020, "The Seventh One Awakens," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
It's been a dramatic couple of episodes for the DigiDestined in the Digimon reboot series. After defeating their first Ultimate-level Digimon, the team is scattered -- seemingly by Devimon's intervention -- and Matt and Tai discover that the villainous Digimon is holding Matt's little brother, T.K, hostage. In the most recent episode, Matt, Tai and their digital partners' attempt to recover T.K almost succeeds. Unfortunately, by liberating him, the DigiDestined inadvertently hand a returning fan-favorite right into Devimon's waiting hands.
The fan-favorite in question is Angemon, the Champion-level form of T.K's partner Patamon. The series has been teasing the arrival of both T.K and Kari (Tai's younger sister) for a little while, with T.K making a surprise appearance in the Digital World at the end of Episode 19, "Howl, Jyouken." The boy was being held within the belly of Valvemon, another fortress-like Digimon on par with CannonBeemon. Infiltrating Valvemon with Leomon's help, Matt and Tai find T.K comatose and encased in a strange, fluid-filled tube. The episode ended with a sneak peek at Angemon's silhouette, and it looked like the Holy Digimon was being restrained by chains.
The latest episode, "The Seventh One Awakens," is an absolute rollercoaster of emotions. While Leomon is kept busy by the sudden arrival of a Megadramon, another of Devimon's acolytes, Tai, Matt, Agumon and Gabumon are left to rescue T.K from another captor: Velgrmon, whom Leomon describes as a "dark beast that is feared to swallow the dead in ancient legends." Velgrmon lifts T.K up into the sky, wraps him in its dark miasma and, with a mere glint of its eye, blows Valvemon to pieces, leaving a giant crater in the earth. Tai and Matt are terrified, of course, but Matt's determination to retrieve his brother overrides their fear.
After Agumon and Gabumon Digievolve to the Mega level, Matt uses their attacks as cover to reach T.K's prison and -- through sheer force of will -- breaks the exterior. His desperate cries are enough to stir T.K from his enforced slumber, a stirring that eventually induces Angemon to also break from his own shackles. Once free, Angemon makes his glorious debut on the battlefield, filling Matt and Tai with renewed hope at seeing one of the Holy Digimon they've been searching for the first time in the flesh.
Sadly, Angemon's glory is shortlived. After giving MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon some blessed powerups, they blast Velgrmon to smithereens. But Angemon, likely the very same Angemon who fought in the previous war that the Holy Digimon told Tai and Sora about at the start of the series, is also destroyed -- his life energy, it seems, expended on one final battle. He's reborn into a Digiegg (Digitama), but before T.K can grasp the precious object, one of Devimon's watching minions swipes it. In his (presumably) haunted castle, Devimon gloats about pulling one over on the Chosen Ones. "Now, return to me... Holy Digimon."
As we first learned from the first Digimon movie, corrupted Holy Digimon can be terrifying powerful tools of evil, which could well be the fate that befalls the reborn Angemon if birthed in Devimon's clutches rather than the DigiDestined's. And for even more proof, just look at Devimon himself: a fallen version of one of the Angemon species. With Izzy, Sora, Mimi and Joe in the real world with Kari, though, there's a good chance that Angemon's female counterpart, Angewoman, may make a similar appearance soon to lend the kids a holy helping hand.
