The infection stops being a plot device and becomes grief. You watch the Digidestined realize their partners might be dying, and there's nothing left but the bond itself, no power-up, no solution, just the choice to stay. Confession finally justifies the entire tri. series by breaking it open emotionally, and the moment when one kid has to let go hits different because you've actually earned it by then.

The Chosen Children are reeling after Meicoomon, the Digimon who had recently joined them with her partner Meiko Mochizuki, abruptly transforms and kills Leomon. To shield them from the infection behind her change, Agumon and the other Digimon are kept apart in Koushiro's office while he works to diagnose it. Then Takeru sees his partner Patamon start to show worrying signs like those of other infected Digimon. A message from the mysterious Homeostasis warns that both the human world and the Digital World face total destruction. Its answer is a Reboot that would reset the Digital World's data and wipe out the infection, but it would also erase the memories of every Digimon, the children's partners included.