02 Chosen

“Hikari’s Memory,” 02 #7: First big bonding episode for Daisuke and Takeru, where Hikari gets trapped in the Digital World and the two of them team up to go save her. From the beginning, Daisuke has been jealous of how close Takeru and Hikari are, and in this episode he finds out they even have matching Digimon in Angemon and Angewomon, much to his displeasure. Takeru learns in this episode that Daisuke is fundamentally harmless and just trying to look cool, and lets him have his small “victories” with Hikari.

“Blue Lightning, Lighdramon,” 02 #11: In this episode Daisuke and Takeru get into a fight over whether or not they should fight Taichi’s Agumon while he’s being controlled by the Kaiser. Daisuke is hesitant to hurt a friend, but Takeru insists there is no other choice. He thinks they’ll be able to remove the Evil Spiral, but Daisuke is worried that the only way to do that is to destroy the Digimon it’s attached to. They get into a physical grapple and the rest of their group tries to stop them, but Taichi and Yamato tell them to let them fight, because they used to fight a lot, too, and it only brought them closer. They fight again later, when Daisuke refuses to attack the Kaiser for fear of harming Patamon, who has just been captured too. This time, Miyako breaks them up.

“The Synthetic Monster, Chimeramon,” 02 #19: This is the infamous Takeru-Kaiser fight episode in which Takeru sneaks into the Digimon Kaiser’s base and fights one-on-one with Ken. He first mocks Ken’s dramatic speech about controlling evil, telling him he has no idea what he’s talking about and he should grow up and stop playing king of the world, causing Ken to break down yelling “INSECTS” over and over and whip Takeru in the face. Takeru is unaffected by the act of violence and reacts with his own, tackling and beating some sense into Ken before being called away to fight Chimairamon with the others.

“Defend the Holy Point” & “Assault! BlackWarGreymon,” 02 #34-35: In episode #34, Takeru gives a speech in which he condemns those who use the forces of darkness to change and conquer the world, clearly referencing Ken’s creation of Chimeramon as the Digimon Kaiser as well as Devimon, calling this act “unforgivable.” Ken is visibly distressed by this and both Iori and Daisuke look at him. Daisuke, who is currently Jogressed with Ken, tells him to stay focused, lest he throw off their connection. In episode #35 this is referenced again, and Ken attempts to leave before Daisuke stops him and invites him to sleep over.

“The Gigantic Ultimate, Qinglongmon,” 02 #37: In this episode, Takeru exhibits that he’s fully accepted Ken into the team by handing him a steamed bun while they’re eating at a Chinese restaurant in the Digital World. It’s a small gesture, but seems to mean a lot to Ken, who has been extra wary of Takeru since his “unforgivable” speech in episode #34.