"Hunting Down the Hunter, Part 2", known as "Xyz Summon of Souls! ZEXAL" in the Japanese version, is the twenty-fourth episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL anime. It first aired in Japan on September 19, 2011 and in the United States on May 19, 2012.
Despite being unable to fight against the immense power of "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon", Astral, his resolve stern due to "Kattobingu", continues a desperate combo of Offense and Defense. But when he finally gives up against Kite who keeps attacking him over and over, Yuma appears and the mysterious power of ZEXAL activates...!
Summary
Yuma and his friends Tori, Bronk, Cathy, and Caswell are running through the hallways of Kite Tenjo and Orbital 7's secret lab. Behind the building's computer frame, Orbital 7 pushes a key on his keyboard which makes two blocks of iron fall in front of and behind Yuma and his friends, which turn into a mechanical-gorilla and spider-like, those being Orbital 5 and Orbital 6 respectively. The two robots attack them, but they manage to dodge their attacks. Bronk and Tori tell Yuma to go on and find Astral, and Caswell starts throwing his shoes against the robots, and Cathy tells him to do cattobingu (a play on Yuma's kattobingu). Yuma thanks them and goes on his way.
Meanwhile, back in the world inside the Emperor's Key, Astral and Kite continue their Duel. Comparing their scores, Kite asks Astral what he'll do now, Sets a card, and ends his turn. Kite controls "Photon Leo" equipped with the "Photon Spear" Equip Spell Card, and Astral has "Gogogo Golem" on his side of the field. Astral draws, and thinks of Yuma. Yuma runs through the hallways of the building, encountering a huge closed door. Yuma starts pushing buttons at a computer next to it. Cathy and Takashi are running to escape the spider robot, and Tetsuo and Kotori are trying to hide from the gorilla, and Orbital gets stressed behind his computer.
Inside the Key, Astral Normal Summons "Zubaba Knight". He discards "Decrease" to Special Summon "Acorno", and activates "Drop Exchange" to send both of his monsters to the Graveyard and Special Summon "Shadow Lizard" from his hand. Kite observes Astral now has two Level 4 monsters and Astral overlays them. He Xyz Summons "Number 39: Utopia" in Attack Position. While looking through the computer in a hurry, Yuma accidentally opens a picture of Kite next to his brother Hart Tenjo on a swing. Suddenly, his Deck Case starts glowing, and brings Yuma back to where The Door who he saw before Astral appeared is. It tells Yuma about "ZEXAL," and Yuma is returned.
Astral declares battle with "Utopia," destroying "Photon Leo," however, it's revived when Kite uses "Armored Back" to revive it and its "Photon Spear". Astral thinks of "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" summoning conditions, which are closer to being completed now. Thinking of what just happened, the big locked door opens and Orbital 7 heads over to Yuma, who seems to be surprised by it's small size. Orbital 7 transforms in the same way he did before Kite fought Shark, and attacks Yuma, who quickly runs away. He attacks Yuma, but his two drills get stuck in the wall right next to Yuma, and Orbital can't get them out.
Kite draws, drawing his "Galaxy-Eyes." He then Summons "Photon Circle". Astral is initially relieved, as "Photon Circle only has 1000 ATK - not enough for the summoning of "Galaxy-Eyes." Kite reveals that the monster equipped with "Photon Spear" can be treated as two Tributes, much to Astral's shock. He Tributes "Photon Leo" to Special Summon "Galaxy-Eyes", with "Photon Leo" being treated as two Tributes via the effect of "Photon Spear". Using "Photon Stream of Destruction", he attacks "Utopia," and uses the effect of "Galaxy-Eyes", which banishes it and the opponent's monster until the end of the Battle Phase. "Photon Circle" then attacks Astral directly, inflicting 1000 points of damage, so Astral's Life Points are at only 900. "Galaxy-Eyes" and "Utopia" return to the field, and since Utopia is an Xyz Monster that had Overlay Units on it, Galaxy-Eyes increases its ATK by 500 for every one lost, for a grand total of 4000. Using "Galaxy Storm", Kite attempts to destroy "Utopia" now that it has no Overlay Units, but Astral protects it with "Xyz Reflect", also inflicting damage to Kite.
Astral draws, and then he performs Chaos Xyz Evolution to Summon "Chaos Number 39: Utopia Ray". Kite is shocked seeing the Numbers' alternate form and that they have that kind of power, but he quickly recovers from this and states to Astral that his "Galaxy-Eyes" still has more ATK than Astral's "Utopia Ray". Astral however states that is not his aim and proceeds to use "Utopia Ray"'s effect, consuming the single Overlay Unit on "Utopia Ray" to lower the ATK of "Photon Circle" by 1000, to 0 and increase its own by 500 to 3000. The effect's activation turns "Utopia Ray" white, and Kaito looks at the 3000 to 0 calculation of 3000 points of damage to his own 2800. Using "Hope Sword Chaos Slash", "Ray" destroys "Circle."
Kite protected by the effect of "Photon Circle".
The damage, however, is halved by the effect of "Circle", so Kite is not defeated. The odds between "Galaxy Eyes" and "Utopia" are now 4000 to 2500. On Kite's turn, Galaxy-Eyes attacks again, but Astral counters with "Clean Barrier - Clear Force" so he only loses 500. Astral starts fading, whispering Yuma's name. Yuma enters the computer chamber, and Astral sheds a tear. The Emperor's Key reacts, and bursts with light, breaking the glass that surrounded it. The Key moves to Yuma, and when Yuma holds it, he is sent back to The Door. The Door now opens, and Yuma can talk with Astral telepathically now. Yuma asks for his condition, and Astral tells him it isn't too well.
Yuma asks him about ZEXAL, Yuma then runs through the door, of the edge of a dark cliff, and becomes cloaked in the red light that also appears during an Xyz Summon. Astral cloaks himself too, and Yuma, saying he does "kattobingu", overlays himself with him. Kite, shocked, watches the light strike down on the structure. Yuma then materializes, wearing a red armor, the black part of his hair changed into gold, the D-Gazer on his face, and a green stripe on his face. Yuma, startled, asks if this is him, and he hears Astral's voice, saying it is also him. Kite looks at them, startled. He quickly recovers from this, telling Yuma he only has 400 Life Points left.
"Utopia Ray" equipped with "Zexal Weapon - Unicorn Spear".
Yuma gets startled by this, but Astral lets their hand shine, telling Yuma to win. They then perform a Shining Draw, drawing "Zexal Weapon - Unicorn Spear". They then get "Unicorn Spear" out to the field and it then replaces the sword wielded by "Utopia Ray" itself, in the form of a spear. Its ATK then increases by 1900, and its powers allow "Utopia Ray" to attack without the effect of "Galaxy-Eyes" activating. "Utopia Ray" then uses its "ZEXAL weapon - Hope Slash" by throwing "Unicorn Spear" at Galaxy-Eyes and crushing it into "Galaxy-Eyes"' body, but Kite uses "Photon Shock" to make both him and Yuma take the damage dealt in a battle involving a "Photon" monster. "Galaxy-Eyes" is then destroyed by the attack much to Kite's devastation. Kite and Yuma are then thrown backwards and both of their Life Points are reduced to 0, ending the duel in a draw.
Yuma asks Kite why he collects the Numbers. Kite gives an unclear answer to them, saying that "he sold his soul to the devil for his little brother's sake"("The only way to save his little brother" in the English Dub), but then he releases Shark's soul since Shark had no Numbers on him when his soul was taken. Shark at this point wakes up next to Mr. Kay who had been taking care of him while he was in his comatose state. The computer in the building malfunctions, and Orbital panics. Yuma's friends gather in a hallway, deciding they have to leave, as the building is rumbling.
Yuma and his friends see Kite leave.
Tori doesn't want to leave without Yuma, but Bronk promises her he's fine, and the four escape from the building, which then explodes before their eyes. Tori and Cathy fall to their knees, Tori screaming Yuma's name in despair, but Yuma comes up from the ruined rests of the building. Tori gets angry with him for making them worry. Yuma jumps down and falls, but is okay. Yuma faces the other way, and Astral appears by his side, as they watch Kite Tenjo fly away with Orbital 7 in his glider form on his back and flies away.
Featured Duel: Astral vs. Kite Tenjo
Duel continues from the previous episode.
Turn 4: Kite
Kite Sets a card.
Turn 5: Astral
Astral Normal Summons "Zubaba Knight" (1600/900). Then, he discards "Decrease" to Special Summon "Acorno" (200/400) from his hand via its own effect. Next, he activates "Drop Exchange", letting him send monsters he controls to the Graveyard to Special Summon a monster from his hand with a Level equal to the combined Levels of the sent monsters. He sends the Level 3 "Zubaba Knight" and Level 1 "Acorno" to Special Summon the Level 4 "Kagetokage" (1100/1500) in Attack Position. Astral overlays the Level 4 "Gogogo Golem" and "Kagetokage" to Xyz Summon "Number 39: Utopia" (2500/2000) in Attack Position. "Utopia" attacks and destroys "Photon Leo" (Kite 4000 → 3600). As a monster he controls that was equipped with an Equip Spell Card was destroyed, Kite activates his face-down "Armored Back", letting him Special Summon the destroyed monster from his Graveyard and equip it with the Equip Spell Card. He Special Summons "Leo" (2100/1100) and equips it with "Photon Spear". Astral Sets a card.
Turn 6: Kite
Kite Normal Summons "Photon Circle" (1000/1000). The effect of "Photon Spear" allows the equipped monster to be treated as two Tributes, so Kite Tributes "Photon Leo" to Special Summon "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" (3000/2500) from his hand in Attack Position via its own effect. "Galaxy-Eyes" attacks "Utopia", with Kite activating the effect of "Galaxy-Eyes", banishing both monsters until the end of the Battle Phase. As a result, the Overlay Units of "Utopia" are sent to the Graveyard. "Photon Circle" attacks directly (Astral 1900 → 900). The Battle Phase ends and the banished monsters return. The effect of "Galaxy-Eyes" increases its ATK by 500 for each Overlay Unit the monster had ("Galaxy-Eyes" 3000 → 4000). Kite activates "Galaxy Storm", which would destroy "Utopia" as it has no Overlay Units. As an Xyz Monster he controls would be destroyed by a card effect, Astral activates his face-down "Xyz Reflect", negating the effect and inflicting 800 damage to Kite (Kite 3600 → 2800).
Turn 7: Astral
Astral performs a Chaos Xyz Evolution, overlaying "Utopia" to Special Summon "Chaos Number 39: Utopia Ray" (2500/2000) in Attack Position. Astral activates its effect, detaching the overlaid "Utopia" to increase its ATK by 500 and decrease the ATK of a monster his opponent controls by 1000 ("Utopia Ray" 2500 → 3000, "Photon Circle" 0 → 1000) until the End Phase. "Utopia Ray" attacks and destroys "Photon Circle", with the effect of "Photon Circle" halving the battle damage (Kite 2800 → 1300). Astral Sets a card.
Turn 8: Kite
"Galaxy-Eyes" attacks "Utopia Ray", but Astral activates his face-down "Clean Barrier - Clear Force" as a monster declared an attack, returning the ATK of all monsters Kite controls to their original values and preventing effects from activating during this Battle Phase that would change ATK ("Galaxy-Eyes" 4000 → 3000). The attack continues (Astral 900 → 400) and "Utopia Ray" is not destroyed by battle since "Galaxy-Eyes" is not a "Number" monster.
Turn 9: Astral/Yuma
Yuma and Astral perform a ZEXAL Morph; overlaying themselves. Yuma then performs a Shining Draw and equips "Utopia Ray" with "Zexal Weapon - Unicorn Spear" from his hand via its own effect, increasing its ATK by 1900 ("Utopia Ray" 2500 → 4400) and negating the effects of "Galaxy-Eyes" during the Battle Phase only. Thus, the ATK of "Galaxy-Eyes" returns to its original value again ("Galaxy-Eyes" 4000 → 3000). "Utopia Ray" attacks "Galaxy-Eyes", but Kite activates his face-down "Photon Shock" as he would take battle damage from a battle involving a "Photon" monster, inflicting the battle damage to both players (Astral/Yuma 400 → 0, Kite 1300 → 0).
Featured cards
The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here.
Errors
- When Yuma uses "ZW - Unicorn Spear" in the dub, the original artwork can be briefly seen.
