Changes

To ensure his own death, Ai planned to force Yusaku to Duel him with the lives of many of his friends on the line, and he decided to use [[SOL Technologies]]' new [[SOLtiS]] androids as an alternative plan in case Yusaku was unable to defeat him. By splitting his free will among them, Ai would grant the copies their own free will that would eventually differentiate and allow the copies to become their own individuals, while Ai himself would perish.<ref name="ep117">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|117|ref}}</ref><ref name="ep118">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|118|ref}}</ref> In order to accomplish his plans, Ai would need to take control of SOL Technologies, and doing so would necessitate gaining the two "keys" to SOL Technologies, which were held by the CEO, [[Queen]], and Zaizen, who had been promoted to Executive Director following the Ignis War.<ref name="ep105">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|105|ref}}</ref> Before enacting his plans, Ai left memorials for the other five Ignis in the ruins of the Cyberse, telling them that he had made his decision.<ref name="ep103" /><ref name="ep104">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|104|ref}}</ref>

As Ai had promised, he and Roboppi enacted their plan to take Zaizen's key three days after defeating Queen.<ref name="ep105" /> An hour before beginning his attack, Ai noticed a plane owned by SOL Technologies leaving [[Den City]] and suspected that Zaizen was on board.<ref name="ep108">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|108|ref}}</ref> Ai and Roboppi identified ten Duelists who had assembled to stop him from getting to Zaizen; Blue Maiden, Soulburner, [[Roken Kogami|Varis]], [[Spectre]], [[Faust]], [[Baira]], [[Dr. Genome]], Ghost Gal, [[George Gore|The Gore]] and [[The Shepherd]]. Roboppi noted Playmaker's absence and asked if he wasn't coming, but Ai reassured Roboppi that nothing could start without Playmaker and he was proven right as Playmaker arrived. He and Roboppi left Linguriboh and boarded their [[Duel Board]]s as Ai suggested they defeat everyone.<ref name="ep105" /> As they approached Central Station, Ai noted that it would be difficult to reach Zaizen and wondered if it had been [[Cal Kolter|Kolter's]] doing, while Roboppi was concerned they were outnumbered by their twelve opponents. Ai admitted that Roboppi was the lowest-rated Duelist among them, as they had never Dueled before (placing himself as the highest and Playmaker below everyone but above Roboppi due to Ai lying that he had been behind Playmaker's skills), but suggested Roboppi raise their rating by gaining experience points from defeating strong opponents. To even the odds and allow him to avoid Dueling the strongest opponents first, Ai created three copies to engage Playmaker, Varis and Soulburner, while he and Roboppi slipped past them to the next line of defenders. Ai's copies teased all of their opponents, telling Playmaker that they were following Lightning's wishes because his dream for coexistence had led to the deaths of the other Ignis, telling Soulburner to hate him for Flame's death and calling Varis SOL Technologies' lapdog. Each of the three Ai copies Link Summoned "[[Fire Phoenix @Ignister (anime)|Fire Phoenix @Ignister]]" and activated "[[A.I. A.I. Wall]]" to prevent their opponents from attacking in order to stall them, admitting this after Varis deduced their purpose. Meanwhile, the real Ai easily defeated Baira and Dr. Genome in a Tag [[Speed Duel]] and took their data. He was then challenged by Faust, who vowed to put his life on the line to stop Ai.<ref name="ep106">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|106|ref}}</ref> Spectre also arrived to assist Faust, but Ai once again defeated both of them with ease and took their data. Ai's copies also continued to stall Playmaker, Vairs and Soulburner, the copy that was Dueling Playmaker telling him that he had to defeat his lock to help his friends.<ref name="ep107">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|107|ref}}</ref>