But he told himself once, you can't give up because of a few mistakes. He does learn from his, usually.

Tai's "rival" is Matt, although it is more Matt who is annoyed by Tai than the other way around. Tai gets angry easily, but is genuinely warm and more good-natured than Matt. I remember a scene where Matt wanted to leave the group, and Tai thought it was his fault and apologised, saying hopefully that they could put their past differences behind them. He just seemed so... nice then.

So it is usually Matt who initiates the fights, although Tai is usually happy enough to argue back. This is partly Matt challenging Tai's leadership - although he tells him at one stage that he does consider Tai 'in charge' and encourages him - and partly Matt's concerns over friendship and his brother. Matt focuses on the good of the group, while Tai focuses on the broader picture - the good of the worlds, of saving the digital world and their own. Although Tai cares about his friends, and Matt cares about saving the two worlds, their main concerns sometimes come into conflict.

Tai's best friend is probably Sora. The two have been friends and gone to school together for years. They also play soccer together; Tai's a good soccer player. They're pretty straight with each other. Tai doesn't know how to deal with emotional girls though. ^_^.

A new, softer side of Tai is also introduced, when Kari comes into the picture. He looks after his sister pretty well and speaks to her quite affectionately. He'd do anything to protect her. Kari thinks nobody could have a better big brother; she remembers an occasion where she fell in some mud and other kids were laughing at her, so Tai jumped in with her and started playing in the mud with her, to pretend she'd done it on purpose.

Despite his occasional insensitivities, Tai is usually a pretty good friend. He's a genuinely nice guy. Izzy said that back in the real world, he was nice even to the younger kids. TK once said he wished Tai was his older brother instead of Matt. He does stick up for his friends, and that leads us into his strongest point...

Courage. Actually, I don't know if I agree that's his strongest point, I think it's enthusiasm, friendliness or even kindness, but you can't really make crests out of them if you want them for the main character, 'cos main characters have to have powerful, important-sounding crests. ^_^.

But there's no doubt about it - Tai does have guts. Whether he's letting himself get shot, facing his fears or running out into a monster's firing range to attract their attention... he'll do it. He does get scared sometimes, although in the more dramatic battles he's usually more busy watching the action, dodging, shouting things out, etc, to think much about being afraid or to register fear. But then, he's an active kid, he's willing to take action, and would prefer doing something to thinking or talking about it.

Guts can sometimes manifest itself as recklessness; one time, he misinterpreted something Izzy said (about them just being data in the digital world) as meaning he was invincible, and took some incredibly stupid risks for no reason. When the seriousness of that dawned on him, and he realised how very lucky he was to still be alive, he fell apart (but only for a few minutes ^_^.).

He really does grow up though, and stands up well under the responsibilities he has to assume, making decisions for the sake of the group.

One of my favourite moments of Tai was when the world was falling apart. Venommyotismon had overcome their best attempts to beat him. Their Ultimates combined couldn't beat him, and even two Mega Digimon couldn't do it. The buildings all around were devastated, they were at the end of their resources, and it looked like it was all over. The other kids were wishing they could have done more, thinking maybe they should surrender, thinking it was all their fault, and things like that - in other words, they had lost hope. And what was Tai thinking?

"I will NEVER give up."

That says it all, really.