Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL - Episode 024

"Hunting Down The Hunter, Part 2", known as "The Soul's Xyz Summon! 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.

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". 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 "Number C39: 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." 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.

Yuma gets startled by this, but Astral lets their hand shine, telling Yuma to win. They then perform a Shining Draw, drawing "ZW - 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 Galaxy-Eyes' Effect 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, but 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. 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, who gives a glare at Yuma 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). Next, he activates "Drop Exchange", sending "Zubaba Knight" and "Acorno" to the Graveyard to Special Summon "Kagetokage" (1100/1500) from his hand. Astral overlays "Gogogo Golem" and "Kagetokage" to Xyz Summon "Number 39: Utopia" (2500/2000) in Attack Position. Astral attacks and destroys "Photon Leo" with "Utopia" (Kite 4000 → 3600). Kite activates his face-down "Armored Back", Special Summoning "Photon Leo" (2100/1100) and equipping it with "Photon Spear". Astral Sets a card.

Turn 6: Kite

Kite Normal Summons "Photon Circle" (1000/1000) and Tributes "Photon Leo" to Special Summon "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" (3000/2500) in Attack Position, with the effect of "Photon Spear" allowing "Photon Leo" to be treated as two Tributes for a Tribute Summon. He attacks "Utopia" with "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" and activates its effect, banishing both monsters until the end of the Battle Phase. As a result, the Overlay Units of "Utopia" go to the Graveyard. Next, Kite attacks Astral directly with "Photon Circle" (Astral 1900 → 900). The Battle Phase ends and the banished monsters return. Then, through its effect, "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" increases its ATK by 1000, to 4000. Kite activates "Galaxy Storm", destroying "Utopia" since it has no Overlay Units. However, Astral activates his face-down "Xyz Reflect", negating the effect and inflicting 800 damage to Kite (Kite 3600 → 2800).

Turn 7: Astral

Astral overlays "Utopia" to Xyz Summon "Number C39: Utopia Ray" (2500/2000) and activates its effect, detaching "Utopia" to increase the ATK of "Utopia Ray" by 500, to 3000 and decreasing the ATK of "Photon Circle" by 1000, to 0. Astral attacks "Photon Circle" with "Utopia Ray". However, due to the effect of "Photon Circle", the damage is halved (Kite 2800 → 1300). Astral Sets a card and ends his turn. At the End Phase, the ATK of "Utopia Ray" returns to 2500.

Turn 8: Kite

Kite attacks "Utopia Ray" with "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" but Astral activates his face-down "Clean Barrier -Clear Force-", returning the ATK of "Galaxy-Eyes" to its original value for the Battle Phase only. (Astral 900 → 400). "Utopia Ray" is not destroyed by battle since "Galaxy-Eyes" is not a "Number" monster.

Turn 9: Astral/Yuma

At this point, Yuma and Astral perform a ZEXAL Morph; overlaying themselves together. Yuma then performs a Shining Draw and equips "Utopia Ray" with "ZW - Unicorn Spear", increasing its ATK by 1900, to 4400 and negating the effects of "Galaxy-Eyes" during the Battle Phase only. Because of this, "Galaxy-Eyes"' ATK returns to its original value. Yuma then attacks "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" with "Utopia Ray". Kite activates his face-down "Photon Shock", inflicting the Battle Damage he takes to both players (Astral/Yuma 400 → 0, Kite 1300 → 0).

Featured cards
The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here.