12,829
edits
Changes
Cleanup to episode 20.
[[File:Playmaker at data bank.png|thumb|Playmaker reaches the data bank.]]
Playmaker asked Ghost Gal and Akira Zaizen why they were in the data bank. Ghost Gal explained that they were after the data, and Playmaker realized that he was just used as a decoy for them to enter the data bank. He ordered Zaizen to move aside, but Zaizen refused and informed him that he had learned what happened to Playmaker ten years previously. Zaizen claimed he had the right to know about the Incident and Playmaker asked him to hand the data over. Zaizen instead asked Playmaker to hand over the Ignis and leave, wanting to shed some light over the Incident, but Playmaker claimed that he would be the one to reveal the truth since it didn't personally involve Zaizen. He challenged Zaizen to a Master Duel, betting Ai for the data, and Zaizen accepted, seeing this as the only way to defeat Playmaker.<ref name="ep18">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|18|ref}}</ref>
[[File:Yusaku furious.png|thumb|left|Yusaku becoming furious at Zaizen]]
Playmaker quickly Link Summoned "Decode Talker", but as he prepared his offence, Zaizen brought out "[[Tindangle Hound (anime)|Tindangle Hound]]" to weaken his linked monsters and used "[[Lemoine Point]]" to prevent Playmaker from attacking face-down monsters. Playmaker countered by Link Summoning "[[Flame Administrator (anime)|Flame Administrator]]", whose effect increased the ATK of "Decode Talker" past that of "Tindangle Hound". Akira flipped "[[Tindangle Angel (anime)|Tindangle Angel]]", reviving "Tindangle Hound" face-down and ending Playmaker's Battle Phase. Zaizen spoke about his and Skye's past, claiming that he knew their pain and asking them to leave fighting the Hanoi to him. Kolter and Playmaker became furious, claiming that Zaizen understood nothing about them. Zaizen [[Flip Summon]]ed "Tindangle Hound", and Set "Tindangle Angel", weakening Playmaker's monsters again and destroying "Flame Administrator". Playmaker used "[[Limit Code (anime)|Limit Code]]" to bring out "Encode Talker", and then he used it to Link Summon "Firewall Dragon".<ref name="ep18" />
Although the effect of "Tindangle Hound" reduced the ATK of "Firewall Dragon", Playmaker used destroyed Zaizen's monsters with "[[Linkage Hole (anime)|Linkage Hole]]" to destroy Zaizen's monsters. "Decode Talker" landed a direct attack, but Zaizen destroyed it with "[[Tindangle Delaunay (anime)|Tindangle Delaunay]]", and brought out his ace, "[[Tindangle Acute Cerberus (anime)|Tindangle Acute Cerberus]]". It attacked "Firewall Dragon", which Playmaker protected with "[[Doppler Phase Coating]]". Zaizen protected his own monster with "[[Gergonne's End (anime)|Gergonne's End]]", and Playmaker noted that Zaizen's Deck was quite difficult to figure out with such complex strategies. Playmaker tried to end the Duel by attacking Zaizen's "[[Tindangle Token]]", but Zaizen prevented the damage with "[[Morley's Shield]]", then used "[[Nagel's Protection (anime)|Nagel's Protection]]" to protect his Tokens. "Tindangle Acute Cerberus" attacked "Firewall Dragon" again, reducing Playmaker to 500 LP. Ai yelled at Playmaker to do something, and wondered if there was anything to be done to get them out of their situation. Playmaker told Ai to stop panicking, and the two traded barbs. Playmaker swore he would not lose, as he wished to uncover the truth. He claimed that his Deck contained his feelings over the past ten years. Playmaker drew a card and Set it. Zaizen asked Playmaker to stop this revenge and cherish his memories, rather than trying to uncover the truth, which Zaizen would reveal. He claimed Playmaker was too conceited in the past, and he would not feel happiness, just as Zaizen himself hadn't. Blue Angel, who had been watching the Duel for a while, revealed her presence and asked to hear about Playmaker's past. Against Playmaker's wishes, Zaizen spoke about the Lost Incident, mentioning that Playmaker had been rescued at its conclusion. Playmaker claimed that he was never rescued due to the trauma that he suffered, and swore that he would uncover the truth for the sake of the families hurt in the Incident, and that he would rescue the person whose voice had encouraged him to fight if he was still trapped. Playmaker noted that even though Zaizen believed revenge was pointless, he had still discovered that the Knights of Hanoi had been involved in the Lost Incident, also known as the [[Hanoi Project]]. Zaizen then revealed that SOL Technologies' data bank contained the name of the mastermind behind the Hanoi Project, much to Playmaker's shock.<ref name="ep19" />
Playmaker demanded the name of the mastermind, but Zaizen refused to reveal it, fearing this would only feed Playmaker's hatred and desire for revenge. Zaizen attempted to conclude the Duel by attacking "Firewall Dragon" with "Acute Cerberus", but Playmaker avoided the defeat by banishing his dragon with "[[Cynet Backdoor (anime)|Cynet Backdoor]]", triggering the effect of "Doppler Phase Coating" to end the Battle Phase. Zaizen turned the tables by preventing Playmaker from attacking "[[Euler's Circuit (anime)|Euler's Circuit]]", which would also allow him to Summon a "Tindangle" monster to Playmaker's field to complete his combo. Playmaker brought out "Link Spider", "[[Recovery Sorcerer (anime)|Recovery Sorcerer]]" and "[[Security Gardna (anime)|Security Gardna]]". Zaizen pointed out the pointlessness of summoning the monsters, as Playmaker was unable to attack. As Playmaker had Summoned "Security Gardna" to the Zone that "Tindangle Acute Cerberus" pointed to, Zaizen used "Gergonne's End" to destroy the monsters that "Acute Cerberus" pointed to, inflicting the ATK of "Acute Cerberus" to Playmaker, but Playmaker survived with the effect of "Security Gardna", which prevented all effect damage during that turn and destroyed "Euler's Circuit", allowing Playmaker to attack. Despite his advantage, Playmaker used "Recovery Sorcerer" to bring back "Security Gardna". Ai questioned this, as Playmaker could simply attack directly with "Firewall Dragon", and Playmaker claimed that a Duel was more than just winning or losing. He used the effect of "Firewall Dragon" to return Akira's "Tindangle Hound" and "Tindangle Angel" from the Graveyard to his hand, reducing the ATK of "Tindangle Acute Cerberus" to 0, before destroying it with "Firewall Dragon", defeating Zaizen. Playmaker walked past the Zaizen siblings and had Ai devour SOL Technologies' data. Before leaving, Playmaker asked Zaizen not to follow him, or else he'd walk the path of darkness. Zaizen asked why Playmaker didn't attack directly with "Firewall Dragon", and he explained "Tindangle Hound" and "Tindangle Angel" represented Akira and his sister, who he believed should turn around and walk to the light rather than remain in the Graveyard. He tansported to his Duel Board and logged out. Outside, Kolter praised Yusaku and Ai. The two hacked into Ai, and found out the Hanoi Project's leader was [[Kiyoshi Kogami|Dr. Kiyoshi Kogami]], an employee from SOL Technologies, who worked on the Project alone in secrecy. The two concluded that SOL Technologies covered up the Incident to prevent the company's reputation from being ruined. Ai doubted that Dr. Kogami could have done this on his own, and suggested that Zaizen was involved, but Kolter reminded him that Zaizen had been 16 back then and not employed at SOL Technologies at the time. Kolter and Yusaku failed to find the Project's goal in the data, but to their shock they discovered Dr. Kogami had died seven years ago.<ref name="ep20">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|20|ref}}</ref>
Yusaku and Ai logged into LINK VRAINS and Playmaker motivated the Gore in a sarcastic manner, which made him to defeat Genome. After Gore defeated Genome, he then approached Playmaker and realize that Playmaker didn't come to mock him. Instead, he came to motivate him but Playmaker didn't give a straight answer. Gore then told him that he wanted to team up with Playmaker and defeat Hanoi. They saw Blue Angel, and Gore also offered her to join forces with them. The next day Yusaku didn't go to school and teamed up with Gore, defeating various Knights of Hanoi. After defeating another Knight, Playmaker and Ai then interrogated him about the removal program that can cure the victims of Deleted. However, before the Knight could explain, he was erased by [[Kyoko Taki|someone]]. Gore then asked him about Blue Angel's whereabouts, but Playmaker didn't know where she was, and remembered she left all of a sudden. The two then discussed about the creator of removal program. Sometime later Yusaku, Ai and Kolter then watch [[Kitamura]] making a public announcement that he developed an army of AI Duelists to confront the Knights of Hanoi.<ref name="ep24">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|24|ref}}</ref>
At the van, Kolter analyzed that if the Knights of Hanoi took over LINK VRAINS, they'd soon find Playmaker. Yusaku believed they could prevent that by looking into the origins of Deleteds Deleted virus. The next day, at the van, Kolter woke Yusaku up, reminding he had to go to school, and promised he'd continue working. After Yusaku returned, Kolter found nothing new. Yusaku let Kolter rest, who went to cook some fries and cheese dogs. Yusaku and Kolter ate the food, and watched Blue Angel confronting Baira. Ai noted Blue Angel was cornered, but Yusaku shushed him, since they were still working. Kolter and Yusaku analyzed the videos, and the latter saw Baira behind one of the Deleteds victims.<ref name="ep25">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|25|ref}}</ref> Yusaku and Kolter then hacked into Baira's profile and found out her real identity as [[Kyoko Taki]], a doctor who works at [[Den Hospital]] and they were able to find out her home address. Yusaku then went into her apartment and Ai warned him it could be Hanoi's headquarter as he went inside he was greeted by a security guard robot, who asked him who does he want to visit. But, Yusaku remained silent as Ai told him to say something before anything get suspicious the robot then threatened him if he doesn't answer he would be held under suspicion. When Kolter took control of the guard and guided him to Kyoto's room, Yusaku found her in LINK VRAINS and watched Blue Angel defeat her. He and Kolter also witnessed the victims of Deleted getting cured and logging out of LINK VRAINS. As Baira suddenly disappeared, they thought she logged out and decided to interrogate her about the removal program but witness her getting purged by Varis.<ref name="ep26">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|26|ref}}</ref>
Despite Deleted victims being purged from the virus, Yusaku was still worried, since he only fought the Knights of Hanoi inside LINK VRAINS, and Kolter confirmed one last mastermind left to be fought against. The next day, Yusaku spoke with Naoki, who wished to battle the Knights of Hanoi alongside Playmaker and Blue Angel. Naoki pointed out the [[Duel Club]] forbade entering LINK VRAINS. Yusaku warned him there was a website with the list of Deleted, and since Naoki had no plan, he would instantly fail. Yusaku also sensed fear inside Naoki and felt he'd ask Yusaku to join him. Naoki was furious and stormed out, and Ai noted Yusaku went too far on him. When Yusaku came to the van, Kolter showed him someone has played his "[[Cyberse Wizard (anime)|Cyberse Wizard]]". Kolter identified him as Lonely Brave, which Ai thought as a cool name. When Yusaku showed his "Cyberse Wizard", Ai touched it and sensed the data from the card was missing. Ai thought Lonely Brave was the mastermind, and defeated the Knight of Hanoi to lure Playmaker out. They soon found Naoki was Lonely Brave, who changed the name to "Brave Max". Despite this, Yusaku feared Naoki was in danger, should the mastermind find out he used the [[Cyberse]] card. Not long after, Yusaku and Kolter found Brave Max, with [[Faust]], the mastermind, who called out to Playmaker to come and Duel him. The former claimed he received "Cyberse Wizard" from Playmaker, which surprised Yusaku. Yusaku went to grab his [[Duel Disk]], but saw it was gone. Ai logged on the screen, and showed he was on the Duel Disk, which [[Roboppy]] modified it with a drone. While Yusaku noted the device felt heavier, Ai explained he was searching for Naoki, though the data of "Cyberse Wizard". Yusaku realized Ai even knew this would happen, which offended Ai, seeing Yusaku was even accusing him. Regardless, Ai showed the location, where Naoki was captured. Yusaku called out to him, and Ai returned to the van. Yusaku grabbed the Duel Disk and left Kolter to rescue Naoki, while Yusaku logged in to LINK VRAINS.<ref name="ep27">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|27|ref}}</ref>
