Changes

Ai pointed out the core of the data bank was where SOL Technologies' information was processed and released. Hearing Ghost Girl's plans, Ai thought Ghost Girl lost on purpose to hand them the backdoor route, but Ghost Girl corrected it that she still had the opportunity to obtain Ai. Regardless, she was fine with either outcome, making Ai curse her for being so cunning, which Ghost Girl took as a compliment. When Akira refused to hand over the data from the bank, Ai started to complain, claiming he is the great Ignis everyone was searching for. Akira wondered if Ai actually had free will, like Revolver told them. Ghost Girl told them Akira was demoted, which made Ai amused how much he sacrificed himself to look after his sister. Since Akira refused to hand over the data, Playmaker challenged Akira to a Duel, betting Ai for the data, which Akira accepted. Ai was displeased, as being bet was a normal thing to it. As Akira reinforced his defenses, Ai noted Akira was a stiff man, just like his strategy. As Ai swapped "[[Tindangle Base Gardna (anime)|Tindangle Base Gardna]]" for "[[Tindangle Hound (anime)|Tindangle Hound]]", Ai started complaining until seeing how scary the latter was. "Tindangle Hound" roared as its effect activated, making Ai feel woozy, but Playmaker silenced Ai. Playmaker brought out "[[Flame Administrator]]" and destroyed "Tindangle Hound", with Ai mimicking Playmaker's pose. However, it cursed, as Akira revived his "Tindangle Hound", via "[[Tindangle Angel (anime)|Tindangle Angel]]'s" effect, and ended the Battle Phase. Ai realized Akira played a Flip Monster deck, with unique strategies. Since Playmaker refused to give up, Ai encouraged him to crush Akira. Ai admitted Akira's monsters hurt his pride, seeing its power continued lowering Playmaker's monsters' ATK.<ref name="ep18">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|18|ref}}</ref>

Playmaker destroyed Akira's monsters with "[[Linkage Hole]]", and Ai taunted Akira for being unable to use his Flip Monsters' effects. However, Ai started panicking when "Decode Talker" was destroyed and an [[Tindangle Acute Cerberus (anime)|"even scarier pooch"]] was summoned, whose ATK was boosted to 3000. "Tindangle Acute Cerberus" attacked "Firewall Dragon", and Ai feared he and Playmaker would lose, so the latter protected "Firewall Dragon" with "[[Doppler Phase Coating]]". Akira protected his own monster with "[[Gergonne's End]]", so Playmaker tried to have "Firewall Dragon", enhanced with "[[Alert Lancer]]", attack "Tindangle Token" to finish the Duel. Ai smiled for the victory, until Akira protected himself with "[[Morley's Shield]]". Ai continued panicking when Akira played "[[Nagel's Protection (anime)|Nagel's Protection]]" to protect his Tokens, and even doubling the damage "Tindangle Acute Cerberus" dealt, lowering Playmaker's LP to 500. Ai yelled to Playmaker to do something, and even wondered if there was anything that can be done to get them out of the situation. Playmaker asked of Ai to stop panicking, asking if it even was an AI, making the latter furious why he was so calm. Playmaker claimed if Ai was so worried about losing, it should consider about finding a new home. Ai replied he didn't think of that, since he had Playmaker as a friend to help him out. Playmaker claimed they were no friends, stating Ai should behave like other AI-s. This crushed Ai, seeing Playmaker was colder than AI-s. Ai started acting like a dumb AI to amuse Playmaker, though he also wished to know about the incident from ten years ago. Hearing Playmaker was a part of Hanoi Project, Ai started to ponder thoughts about it. He was also shocked to hear SOL Technologies' data bank contained the name of the mastermind behind the project.<ref name="ep19">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|19|ref}}</ref>