"Lightning Strikes", known as "Bounty Hunter's Duty" in the Japanese version, is the eightieth episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS anime. It aired in Japan on December 5, 2018. It aired on Teletoon on June 7, 2020.
The Shepherd manages to deal with Lightning's tactics and gain the upper hand in the Duel. However, Lightning then summons more monsters to attack The Shepherd's Drones. At this point, no one can predict how the fierce battle between the two will go. Can The Shepherd really triumph against Lightning and stop him in his track?!
Featured Duel: Lightning vs. The Shepherd[]
Duel continues from the previous episode.
Turn 3: The Shepherd
The Shepherd Normal Summons "Drone Pawn" (600/0). The Shepherd activates the effect of "Battledrone General", allowing him to Special Summon a "Drone" monster from his GY to the zone "General" points to. The Shepherd Special Summons "Scud Drone" (800/1100), whose effect lets The Shepherd draw 1 card as it was Special Summoned from the GY via the effect of another "Drone" monster. He uses "Scud Drone" to Link Summon "Battledrone Sergeant" (800/LINK-1/↓). The Shepherd activates the other effect of "General"; letting him target "Drone Pawn" (as it is a Level 4 or lower "Drone" monster with 1000 or less ATK) and allow it to attack directly this turn.
"Drone Pawn" attacks Lightning directly (Lightning: 4000 → 3400 LP). As a "Drone" monster inflicted Battle Damage by attacking directly, The Shepherd activates the effect of "General", allowing him to tribute that monster to inflict damage equal to its ATK (Lightning: 3400 → 2800 LP). As a "Drone" monster inflicted Battle Damage by attacking directly this turn, the effect of "Sergeant" allows it to attack directly as well. "Sergeant" attacks directly (Lightning 2800 → 2000), and The Shepherd activates the effect of "General" by tributing "Sergeant" (Lightning: 2000 → 1200 LP). "General" attacks an "Armatos Legio Centurion", but Lightning activates the effect of "Centurion", allowing him to negate an attack on an "Armatos Legio" monster once while it is face-up on the field. The Shepherd activates the Continuous Spell "Drone Unity", which will increase the ATK of an attacked Attack Position "Drone" monster by the total ATK of all other "Drone" monsters The Shepherd controls. During The Shepherd's End Phase, the effect of "Battledrone Warrant" activates in the GY, Special Summoning itself (1200/LINK-2/←↓) as The Shepherd controlled no cards in his Main Monster Zones.
Turn 4: Lightning
Lightning activates the Continuous Spell "Armatos Lex", letting him return a Spell Card from his GY to his Deck and add an "Armatos Legio" card from his Deck to his hand. He returns "Judgment Arrows" to his Deck and adds "Armatos Legio Gradius" to his hand. He activates the effect of "Armatos Colosseum", sending "Gradius" from his hand to his GY to Special Summon "Armatos Legio Speculata" (0/1800) and "Armatos Legio Sica" (0/400) from his GY in Defense Position to zones a "Centurion" points to. He uses "Speculata" and a "Centurion" to Link Summon "Armatos Legio Legatus Legionis" (2400/LINK-3/←↓→).
"Centurion" attacks "General", with Lightning activating the effect of "Sica" as an "Armatos Legio" Link Monster that points to it is battling, letting Lightning destroy the opponent's monster at the start of the Damage Step without applying Damage Calculation. "Legatus Legionis" attacks and destroys "Warrant" (The Shepherd: 3500 → 2300 LP).
Turn 5: The Shepherd
The Shepherd Normal Summons "Drone Recycler" (100/???) and activates its effect, letting him banish a "Drone" Link Monster from his GY to Special Summon a "Drone" monster from his hand whose Level is equal to the Link Rating of the banished monster. The Shepherd banishes the Link-2 "Warrant" and Special Summons the Level 2 "Drone Carrier" (800/1000) in Defense Position. As "Carrier" was Special Summoned by the effect of another "Drone" monster, its effect lets The Shepherd Special Summon another "Drone" monster from his GY: he Special Summons "General" (2400/LINK-3/←↓→). The Shepherd activates the effect of "General", allowing him to Special Summon a "Drone" monster from his GY to the zone "General" points to. He Special Summons "Drone Pawn". The Shepherd tunes the Level 4 "Recycler" with the Level 2 Tuner "Carrier" to Synchro Summon the Level 6 "Commandrone Double Sniper" (2000/2600) in Attack Position. The Shepherd activates the other effect of "General"; letting him target "Drone Pawn" (as it is a Level 4 or lower "Drone" monster with 1000 or less ATK) and allow it to attack directly this turn. Lightning activates the effect of "Legatus Legionis", allowing him to Once per Turn tribute an "Armatos Legio" monster to Special Summon 1 "Armatos Legio" monster from his GY with a different name. Lightning tributes "Sica" to Special Summon "Armatos Legio Scutum" (0/1800) from his GY in Defense Position to the zone "Centurion" points to.
As an "Armatos Legio" Link Monster points to "Scutum", the effect of "Scutum" prevents The Shepherd from attacking monsters except for that Link Monster. "Drone Pawn" attacks directly, but the effect of "Armatos Lex" lets Lightning negate direct attacks as long as both players control a monster. Since a card or effect that would negate an attack was activated, the effect of "Double Sniper" places one Drone Counter on itself after the effect resolves ("Double Sniper "Drone Counters: 0 → 1). When "Double Sniper" has at least one Drone Counter on it, it can attack directly as well as make a second attack during each Battle Phase. "Double Sniper" attacks Lightning directly, but Lightning activates the effect of "Armatos Lex" to negate the attack ("Double Sniper" Drone Counters: 1 → 2). "Double Sniper" attacks "Centurion"; but Lightning activates the effect of "Centurion" to negate the attack.
Because Lightning activated a monster effect while "Double Sniper" has 2 or more Drone Counters on it, The Shepherd activates the effect of "Double Sniper" to negate that effect, destroy the monster and inflict 1000 Damage to Lightning, but the other effect of "Scutum" prevents "Armatos Legio" Link Monsters that point to it from being destroyed by battle or card effects once per turn. The attack continues but "Centurion" is not destroyed (Lightning: 1200 → 900 LP). "General" attacks and destroys "Centurion" (Lightning: 900 → 200 LP).
The Shepherd activates the other effect of "Drone Unity", letting him tribute a "Drone" monster to draw a card. He tributes "Drone Pawn" and draws "Drone Force Fusion". He activates "Drone Force Fusion", letting him Fusion Summon a Fusion Monster using materials he controls on the field, including at least one "Drone" monster. The Shepherd fuses "Double Sniper" and "General" to Fusion Summon "Fortressdrone Beehive" (0/3000) in Attack Position. The effect of "Beehive" activates as it was Fusion Summoned, putting a number of Drone Counters on it equal to the Level of the Fusion Material ("Beehive" Drone Counters: 0 → 6). The other effect of "Beehive" lets The Shepherd remove any number of Drone Counters from it to Special Summon an equal amount of "Drone Tokens" to his field. He removes 5 counters ("Beehive" Drone Counters: 6 → 1) to Special Summon 5 "Drone Tokens" (0/0) all in Attack Position, while the effect of "Beehive" increases its ATK by 1000 for every "Drone" monster on the field besides itself ("Beehive": 0 → 5000 ATK). The Shepherd sets a card.
Turn 6: Lightning
Lightning draws and subsequently activates the Link Spell "Judgment Arrows" at the Spell & Trap Zone the bottom Link Arrow of "Legatus Legionis" points to. The effect of "Snatch Drone" negates the effects of cards with the same name as the card destroyed when "Snatch Drone" was activated while they are on the field. The effects of "Judgment Arrows" are negated. As The Shepherd controls a "Drone" monster, he activates his face-down Continuous Trap "Capture Drone", targeting a Link Monster Lightning controls and negating the effects of that monster while it is on the field, also it cannot be Tributed or be used as Link Material. He targets "Legatus Legionis". The effect of "Capture Drone" prevents Lightning's Link Monsters from attacking. Lightning activates the effect of "Lex", Tributing "Scutum" to draw a card. He draws and subsequently Normal Summons "Armatos Legio Magica Alcum" (0/1600) to the zone the middle-left Link Arrow of "Legatus Legionis" points to. As "Magica Alcum" is Normal or Special Summoned to a zone Lightning's "Armatos Legio" Link Monster points to, he activates its effect, targeting a "Judgment Arrows" in his Spell & Trap Zone that Link Monster points to and preventing "Armatos Legio" monsters he controls from being destroyed by card effects this turn, also sending the targeted card to the GY, then destroying all face-up cards in The Shepherd's Spell & Trap Zones and Main Monster Zones. He sends "Judgment Arrows" to the GY to destroy the five "Drone Tokens", "Drone Unity", "Snatch Drone", and "Capture Drone" ("Beehive": 5000 → 0 ATK). "Legatus Legionis" attacks and destroys "Beehive" (The Shepherd: 2300 → 0 LP).
Featured cards[]
The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here.
