Yuma Tsukumo

Yuma Tsukumo is the main protagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL. He is a young Duelist who aspires to be the greatest, despite his poor skills. He finds himself unwillingly partnered with a Dueling spirit called Astral and together, they search for the "Numbers" cards to recover Astral's lost memories, thus, he became a Number Hunter.

Appearance
Yuma has tan skin, red eyes, and black and red spiked hair that points out and upward. In every outfit he wears, Yuma is always wearing Emperor's Key around his neck, which is hung by a black string. He owns a white and yellow Duel Gazer with a green lens, matching the color scheme of his ace, "Number 39: Utopia". Yuma bares a striking resemblance to his father, Kazuma Tsukumo, but has inherited his mother's red eyes.

In his regular attire, he wears a red Duel vest with a white hood and a purple tanktop with a green "D" symbol, standing for "Duel". Yuma also wears white pants with designs of three orange moon crescents attached to one another with yellow outlines at the bottom, a white brown-stripe belt, and black with blue streaks shoes with white straps. Other accessories includes a brown finger-less glove on his left hand, a black protective pad on his right elbow and a thick, dark blue bracelet with light blue gems and red outlines on his right wrist.

When in his school attire, he wears a white shirt with red-lined sleeves and collar, a red tie, blue pants and brown shoes. In his nightwear attire, he wears a red-white t-shirt, grey pants, and sometimes green slippers, but Yuma mostly goes barefoot around his house.

Personality
Yuma is a hasty, straightforward, honest and cheerful young boy who likes to challenge himself to do anything that seems impossible, which he normally fails at. He states that doing these challenges gets him fired up and will eventually accomplish what he sets out to do. He calls this challenge his "Kattobingu" spirit ("feeling the flow" in the dub), which his father taught him. He is also somewhat self-contradictory, as he often says one thing and does the exact opposite, as when Tori Meadows tells him that she doesn't understand what it's like to be him after being left exhausted only to change the subject to how he always gets fired up, or when he says he won't show up to his Duel with Reginald Kastle until immediately regaining his confidence.

Yuma greatly loves his parents and treasures Emperor's Key they gave him, shown when he was depressed when Shark broke it and nearly had a panic attack when he lost it, but really just ran out the house without it. In his house, Yuma sleeps in the treasury attic full with memories and artifacts of his parents' adventures and trips instead of his own bedroom. He looks up to his father and carries on his challenging, never-give-up spirit and catchphrase "Kattobingu". It was aid that Yuma picked up his personality from his father's spirit and his mother's affection. While he tries to hide it, Yuma quite sensitive on the subject of parents and misses them. Astral says that deep in Yuma's heart, he struggles with the sadness of losing his parents and tries to live up to their teachings. Many have pointed out how similar Yuma is to his father, Charlie McCoy told Kari how Yuma had inherited his father's "Kattobingu" spirited, and Tron and V commented how Yuma and Kazuma shared the same beliefs in bonds and friendship.

Yuma is shown to stick up for others, despite their protests, as he challenged Shark to reclaim Bronk Stone's Deck. Yuma even challenged Gauche and Droite to a Duel in order to defend Flip (who cheated other participants), who's punishment for losing the Duel would be having his Deck confiscated, which would disqualify him from the World Duel Carnival. Yuma believes Duelists can't be bad people and believes a Duel to be a clash of souls. He also appears to be naive as he believed that Flip really had good intentions, even after his friends had warned him he was a swindler from the start.

Yuma seems to have a positive effect on the people he Duels, Mr. Kay claimed that Yuma has a "sun-like" power and that people who have contact with Yuma has their hearts "illuminated" without noticing. After his Duel with Shark, he stopped stealing others Decks and the two eventually became friends. After defeating Flip, he gave up his conniving ways and became an honest person. After defeating Nelson Andrews, he helped him repair his relationship with his mother and become his own person instead of living in the shadow of his ESPer Sparrow persona. After defeating Cathy, she began to gain more confidence and started hanging out more with Yuma and his friends instead of always hiding from others. After defeating Kaze, he was able to let go of his anger after being stopped by Yuma from slashing a statue and started studying again under his former teacher.

He is easily annoyed, and frequently clashes with Astral, due to his short-temper and stubbornness. Yuma tends to disobey Astral's instructions when they Duel, which leads to him making mistakes. He only starts obeying when he is about to lose, as he believes the Duels are his and listening to him would mean he needed help to win. As the series progresses, Yuma and Astral start working together, mostly after he called Astral his friend. Presently, Yuma doesn't complain much when Astral gives him advice and normally just says "I understand", but he still gets upset sometimes.

Yuma wants to be a Duel Champion, but tends to sleep and slack off at school, and doesn't generally use strategy during Duels. Unlike Yugi Muto, Jaden Yuki, and Yusei Fudo, he was an amateur knowing only the basics, but as the series goes on, Yuma's Dueling skills are starting to slowly increase. He can Duel opponents like Cathy and Lilly without Astral telling him what to do (though this only happens when he Duels seriously, seeing how he is still defeated with ease in friendly Duels), but he still relies on him to help him out at difficult times. Yuma's skills have improved greatly enough that he was able to hold his own against both Droite and Gauche until Astral came back to make a final winning move. Having be taught by Astral, his skills has grown even more during his one-on-one Duel with III.

Yuma appears to have a habit of forgetting important things such as the Emperor's Key on his way to school, officially registering for the World Duel Carnival, his invitation to the finals party, and even his Heart Pieces on the day of the finals.

Etymology
Like the protagonists of the other series, Yugi Muto, Judai Yuki (Jaden Yuki) and Yusei Fudo, his name contains the syllable "yu".

His surname, "Tsukumo", can be translated as "ninety-nine" which is the amount of "Number" cards he and Astral are looking for. The name "Yuma" can mean evening or horse, which explains the horse symbol on Yuma's soccer uniform from the "Dream Pitch" Field Spell Card.

History
Yuma grew up with his loving parents, Kazuma Tsukumo and Mira Tsukumo, older sister Akari Tsukumo, and grandmother Haru Tsukumo. Since he was young, Yuma has been going to the same school as his childhood friend, Tori Meadows, since their families has always been good terms with each other. As a child, he got the constant attention and affections of his parents, to his sister's chagrin. Very close to his parents, he would sometimes go on camping trips or rock climbing with his father.

Due to his poor Dueling skills and constantly proclaiming that he will become a Duel champion, Yuma was frequently teased by others. One day, after losing a Duel against a few classmates and was teased about it, Yuma became depressed and sad. His father noticed this, and took him camping in the mountains to cheer him up and have a "man talk". Despite his father attempt to cheer him up, Yuma remained to sulk and refused to talk about his problems.

When his father begins to tell him about the "other universe", Yuma perked up and was encouraged to always challenge, and to strive for hope. When asked about his aim, Yuma answers by saying his aim is to become the Duel Champion. Although, Yuma mentions how people laugh at him, his father told him not to care about it, and never to give up on that drive and to always continue for it.

After a friendly Duel and before he was about to go sleep, Yuma asks his father what his dream is, to which his father answers by saying his dream is to go to the end of the world. Yuma laughs at this because the Earth is round and there no end, and the two laugh together at the notion.



When his father was found after the snowstorm accident, Yuma notices Emperor's Key in his hands and stares at it. Sometime later, he Dueled against some bullies and lost, then was mocked to the point of tears welling up in his eyes. Then his father showed up, shouting him encouragement and tossed him in the key. Moved by this, Yuma started to always wear the key and do "Kattobingu".

After his parents went missing and were assumed dead, he is looked after by his grandmother and Kari, who began to forbid him from Dueling, but he still does it behind her back. Although, unknown to Yuma, she did this because of her promise to their parents to protect him, and that their father warned her about being careful with Yuma's Duels because one day a great destiny would awaken from one of his Duels.

One day at school, Yuma shouts out his ambition to his class and was mocked by Bronk Stone. Angered, Yuma challenged him to a Duel and lost, but continues to Duel him ever since. The two eventually become friends, but Yuma still regularly lost to Bronk.

Sometime after gaining the key, a door shaped like the head of a demon, wrapped in chains started haunting Yuma in his dreams, causing him to have the same nightmare almost every night. In that dream, he meets the door upon a old zig-zag raised path and a voice says; "Whoever opens this door will obtain a new power, in exchange but will lose what they appreciate the most.", and seems to make his key react to this. However, Yuma always wakes up before he can open it and appears to never told anybody about his dreams.

Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL
Once again, Yuma is plagued by nightmares of a demonic gate and a voice says that whoever opens this door will receive a new power but in compensation they will lose their most precious thing. Yuma wonders about his most precious thing as the key lights up, but the ground below him suddenly crumbles away causing him to fall into an abyss.

Waking up, Yuma falls out of the hammock in his attic and commentating that he is having that same dream again. Then he notices that his clock strikes at 8 o'clock and realizes that he is late for school. Yuma moans at Kari for not waking him up, but she tells Yuma that he's in high school, he should wake himself up, causing Yuma to pull a face. Dashing outside, Yuma bids goodbye to his grandmother Haru, but when asked if he had breakfast, he insists that he doesn't need it and is late. His grandmother is unhappy by this and catches the collar of his shirt with her broom and lifts him off the ground, and demanding that he eats, which he complied.



Yuma rushes through the neighborhood and leapfrogs over an Litterbot and caused it to spin out of control. As he continues running, Yuma runs into Bronk, who leaps in front of him on his skateboard, and declares a race to the school. Accepting the challenge, Yuma races in front, but when they proceeded to run down a flight of stairs, Bronk kicked a Litterbot into Yuma's path, causing him to hit the bot and drop his belongings, including his Deck. As a couple of the Litterbots go rampant in order to pick up what they perceived as litter, Yuma, insulted, screamed at a group of Litterbots that what they were calling "trash" was his Deck.

At Heartland Middle School, Yuma tried completing various tasks ranging from his '20 stack challenge' to swimming the length of the pool, which he failed to do and was laughed at by his classmates. When Tori asked why did all of those things since he going failed at, Yuma explains that she just doesn't understand and that the important thing is to keep fighting and as long as you don't give up you will someday succeed. Grasping his key, Yuma says the key opens many possibilities and with it he feels that he can do anything.

During the school break, Yuma witnessed Bronk losing his Deck to Reginald Kastle in an Ante Duel. When Yuma stood up for Bronk, Shark asked Yuma what was most precious to him, to which Yuma looked down at his pendant. In response, Shark breaks Emperor's Key in two and kicking a piece into a the bushes. Shark still offers a chance to get Bronk's Deck back by Dueling him with his own Deck on the line on the line on Sunday. Later at night, Yuma suffers the same nightmare and then spends the entire day depressed and sad. After school, Yuma was confronted by Bronk about Dueling Shark, which is Yuma planning to do, and was touched that Bronk recovers the missing piece of key.



At night, Yuma plans to use a Deck constructed by his father, as opposed to his usual Deck, but doesn't understand how to use the cards properly. During the Duel, Yuma makes several amateur mistakes and Shark quickly gains an advantage. As Shark taunts him to give up, Yuma argues that he isn't someone like that because he has always believed in himself. Ripping off the key from around his neck, Yuma states that his "Kattobing" will never disappear, as the key begins to shine brightly. Yuma then finds himself in front of the demonic door again. He is given to the opportunity to open it, and does so with Emperor's Key. After he opens it, a mysterious figure flies towards Yuma who is then trapped within a sphere made of blank cards. The sphere shatters and Yuma is returned to the park where he is still Dueling Shark. A dark force is then seen enveloping Shark and he Xyz Summons "Number 17: Leviathan Dragon". Surprised at Shark's power, Yuma begins to feel as though he wouldn't be able to win. However, a strange entity appears next to him and tells him to stand up and win.



The entity reveals himself to be Astral, a Duelist from another world, shocking Yuma. As Yuma talks with Astral, he notices his friends, and everyone else, cannot see him. Astral tries to take over Yuma's Duel, stating that he has to win at all costs with Yuma complaining that it was his Duel. Astral tries to order Yuma around, intentionally or not, to gain the advantage against Shark. However, Yuma refuses to listen to Astral as he is taken down each turn. When Astral informs him that his own life fades as Yuma's Life Points decrease, Yuma takes Astral's advice and uses "Monster Reborn" to Special Summon "Gagaga Magician" from his Graveyard. Astral gifts Yuma with "Number 39: Utopia", an Xyz Monster. Yuma has never owned one before and was excited, and Summons it by overlaying "Gagaga Magician" with "Ganbara Knight". Astral states that "Utopia" is the power he has entrusted to Yuma and that he must use it to win the Duel. With this card, Yuma made a comeback, and manages to pull off a win using it in a combo with "Double or Nothing!". Shark is returned to normal, and returns Bronk's Deck as promised, which Yuma thanks him for. As Shark leaves, Yuma tells Shark he had a lot of fun and says they should Duel again someday just for fun.

With this win, Yuma begins to gain a following around his school, as Shark was known to have pro-level Dueling skills and Yuma famed for having amateur ones. One day, the network at school mysteriously went down, and Yuma's teacher, Mr. Kay, allowed them to use the day to Duel instead, as they could not access their virtual textbooks with the network down. Yuma Dueled his class's chairman, Caswell, but Astral was not present, so Yuma did not have access to his Extra Deck of "Numbers". As a result, he lost a crushing, one-turn defeat without inflicting a single point of damage to Caswell. When Kari picked Yuma and Tori up from Heartland Middle School and tells them that she managed to find the location of the person who uploaded the Crashbug Virus, that being in the school's library thus forcing Yuma and Tori to scope the location out for anyone suspicious.



Yuma and Tori suspected Caswell of being responsible for the network going down, but he would eventually lead them to the real culprit, Mr. Kay. Mr. Kay had been possessed by one of the "Numbers" and Duels Yuma using "Number 34: Terror-Byte" and the "Crashbug" series. After arguing with Astral, Yuma is able to overcome him only through Summoning both "Utopia" and "Leviathan Dragon". Mr. Kay revealed that he had no ill intentions and simply wanted to bring happiness to the city with a virtual "Crashbug". Astral determined through this that the "Numbers" amplify the emotions that their vessel already had, malicious or not.

At school, a student named Flip approaches Yuma to ask for his autograph for defeating Shark and eventually gifts him with a "Baby Tiragon" card in return. Yuma is quite excited to have his own Xyz Monster, despite Tori and Bronk's reservations about Flip and their several attempts drag him away from Flip. After school, Yuma receives the fan-mail containing the Baby Tiragon card, and was question by Kari if he been Dueling even though he was forbidden to. Unknown to Yuma, Flip framed him in many incriminating situations of mischief and emailing the pictures to his classmates the next day, causing everyone, but Bronk and Tori to avoid him. Depressed, Yuma goes to the Heartland Shopping Mall, and finds Flip, who challenged him to a Duel.



To what Yuma thought was going to be a friendly Duel against Flip, but it turned out be far from it. The "Baby Tiragon" card was a trap, and Flip steals "Utopia" via the effect of "Ultra C". Flip then revealed that the autograph Yuma signed was a contract agreeing to ante his Deck in the Duel. Flip goes on to steal "Leviathan Dragon" as well, and appeared possessed by both "Numbers". Astral is sealed in an orb of light as his power weakens, but urges Yuma to protect "Baby Tiragon". Yuma does so and uses its effect to let "Stinging Swordsman" attack directly. With his Continuous Trap Cards returned to his hand, Flip loses the "Numbers" and they return to Yuma. Yuma wins the Duel with them, and attempt to return "Baby Tiragon". Flip tells him to keep it and the two leave the Duel as friends.

Sometimes later, Astral is watching a TV show whilst Yuma is asleep, becomes interested in the hero: "Different Dimension ESPER Sparrow" as he appears to be from a different dimension also. Yuma is woken up by the sound of the episode and switches it off, only to be bugged by Astral about him believing Sparrow may know something about his memories. Yuma tries to explain it's all fiction, but after failing to convince Astral, he reluctantly switches the TV back on, even though the episode has ended. The next day, Yuma arrives at school to Duel someone, only to be prodded by Tori and Astral to visit Sparrow, who's shooting a scene in town. Flip causes a distraction to get them inside, where they see Sparrow practicing alone for his shoot. Astral, still believing TV is real, grows wary of the costumes to the side of the set, and in an attempt to convince Astral they're not real Yuma ends up being flung about in the air by a hook. Whilst Astral ponders over whether Yuma can fly as he can, Yuma drops his Deck in front of Sparrow, who grows concerned.



After Yuma drops to the ground, he is saved from being in trouble with the security by Sparrow, who discovering Yuma is a Duelist, and takes him to his dressing room. Pleased to meet a Duelist, Sparrow gives Yuma back his Deck and Yuma happily agreed to have a Duel with Sparrow upon his request. After Sparrow was spooked at the sight of a spider, Yuma laughs at his sudden change in demeanor and learns that Sparrow is nothing like his character off set. Hearing his situation, Yuma comforts him by saying he should be himself, with the latter telling him his real name, Nelson Andrews. The two become friends, but before they can Duel Nelson's mother forces Yuma out. Before he left, Yuma promise Nelson that they will Duel someday, but Nelson's mother continuing to push him out, leaving Nelson to sorrowfully say "Nelson Andrews doesn't matter" and that no one can save him. On the streets, Yuma laments on Nelson's tough star life, with Astral asking Yuma why Sparrow is also called Nelson, which finally Yuma convinces Astral TV isn't real. After he grows disappointed Nelson can't tell him about his memories, Yuma asks Astral if he's lonely, only for Astral to reply he doesn't know what the word means. Yuma explains, but instead of answering, Astral explains he thinks Nelson may be lonely. Meanwhile, Nelson is possessed by a "Numbers" card and attacks several people in town, taking his TV persona as his real one. After hearing about it, Yuma and Astral head off to find him and does eventually find Nelson, only to learn he is possessed and under the impression he is Sparrow.

Yuma knows he must Duel him to set Nelson free, but then he reveals his "Numbers" card - "Number 83: Galaxy Queen", which puts Yuma in tough spot. Seeing on the Number is like Nelson's soul, Yuma calls Tori and tells her to bring Nelson's mother to the site of the Duel. As Yuma is push into a corner by Nelson, Yuma proclaimed that he will save Nelson. When, Tori shows up with Bronk and Mrs. Andrews, Yuma explains how Nelson is the one attacking people. When Nelson's mother tries to talk to him, he only brushes her off, but Yuma tells her how watch the Duel and sees how Nelson views her. Yuma and Astral debate whether the attack will go through, and they finally decide that they must, if they want to free Nelson. Yuma attacks Galaxy Queen with Utopia, "Hope Sword Slash!", but Sparrow has one last Trap: Star Sparrow Forever!, reviving ESPER Star Sparrow with zero ATK, but it is still obliterated and so is Sparrow's Life Points.



Astral absorbs the Number 83 from Sparrow's body, Nelson returns to his normal self and reunites with his mother, causing Yuma to remember his own mother. Later, Yuma, Tori and Bronk are walking on a bridge as Yuma talks about the day's events. When Yuma and Tori get into an argument, Shark rides by on a motorcycle and observes Yuma, but Yuma didn't notice. Later, Yuma and Astral watch the conclusion of the ESPER Sparrow show, and Astral makes Observation No. 10 - "The parent-child relationship is something I understand".



One day at school, Bronk says that it's strange that Yuma never once won a Duel against him, but has been winning against many powerful opponents recently. Tori asks what's wrong with that and Bronk responds that bringing it to them is more suited for losing. Bronk speculates that Astral may really exist, as Yuma only began to win after he started talking about him. Yuma enters the room and says "Hi", seemingly unaware of that fact that's he's wearing leather pants and an over-sized fur coat. Yuma asks why everyone is staring, and Tori tells him she can't take it anymore. She says that she knows it isn't polite to comment on someone's fashion sense, but that she needs to do so in this case. For the last three days, Yuma has shown up to school in strange outfits, being the last one shown a bee costume. Tori tells him that everyone will laugh is he keeps dressing like that and pulls out a standing mirror and tells Yuma to see for himself. He looks horrified, and Bronk asks how he wasn't aware what he was wearing. Tori goes on to tell him that that's not all - strange things have been showing up around him lately; lunch box was decorated fancily, he suddenly got a 100% on a test and yesterday he was actually able to clear the jump he usually misses in gym class. Astral appears and tells him he's been watching, it happened again last night - someone came into his room and messed with his things. Yuma asks why Astral never told him, Astral only responds that Yuma never asked him. With Astral already there, he doesn't believe that adding more strange things to the room isn't unnatural. Yuma throws off the fur coat and vows to find the person responsible, but Tori teases him that his being full of spirit doesn't change how terrible his outfit is, and Yuma responds that it's not as if he enjoys dressing this way. She tells him he has absolutely no fashion sense. Yuma asks about her, and she retorts that, at least, her fashion sense is better. Yuma asks her to show him, and she tells him they'll go shopping this Sunday to buy Yuma new clothes, which he agrees and told her to met at 3PM at the shopping mall.

The next day, Yuma is waiting for her at the mall, surprised she's late, but then group of cats approach Yuma, with the one at the front having a note in its mouth. When Astral is startled by the cats, Yuma asks if he's scared of cats, but Astral responds that its only because he hasn't yet recorded them in his observations. Yuma jokingly tells him that cats are very sensitive to the supernatural, so they can definitely see Astral, who responds that it seems the cats are looking at Yuma. Noticing the note, he picks it up and sees it's tied with Tori's hair ribbon. He reads it, and determining that Tori has been kidnapped, he followed a cat to a cat-theme mansion.

He bursted through the front doors screaming Tori's name, to find a parlor is full of more cats, and many statues and paintings of cats. A girl emerges from upstairs and welcomes him, introducing herself as Cathy Catherine, but telling him to call her "Cat-chan". Astral says he recognizes her, and tells Yuma she's always staring at him from afar. Yuma seems to know her, but thinks about it, and says he has no idea who she is, to Cathy's disappointment. Yuma asks where Tori is, and why Cathy would do something like this, she responds that it's because Yuma's hopeless. Yuma seems confused and tells her to just give Tori back. Cathy turns around and says that she will if Yuma can beat her in a Duel, but she wants something if she wins. Yuma questions if Numbers are involved and Astral says that if that's the case, they have no choice but to win, but Yuma tells him that there is no need to tell him that. Throughout the Duel, Cathy tries confessing to Yuma that she loves him, but Yuma defeats her with "Baby Tiragon" and Astral attempts to collect her "Number" before realizing she did not have one. Yuma walks over to Cathy to help her up and asked her where Tori is, making Cathy blush.

Afterward, Yuma finds out that Tori was at the park the whole time, playing with Cathy's cats. As they walk to school the next morning with Bronk, Tori tells them that she was forced to play with the cats and that Yuma should stop being so angry with her. Yuma angrily insists that he's not angry with her as Cathy walks up to them, saying "Good morning." and Yuma responds with a "Hey!". As Cathy walks off happily, Bronk asks who that was, and Tori tells him not to be rude since that girl is in their class. When they can't remember her name, Yuma tells them her name is Cathy, and that she's a strong Duelist. Jealous, Tori says she didn't know that and Bronk asks if Yuma figured out who was messing with them. Tori says she has to go and walks ahead of them, leaving Yuma confused. Astral floats above and documents his eleventh observation - "Yuma still doesn't understand the feelings of women".



One day Yuma is late for school, and dashes across a crosswalk when traffic is cleared, but nearly gets run over by someone on a motorcycle. The driver pulls over and Yuma angrily asks if he didn't see the lights change. He sees that the driver is Shark, who says nothing and pulls away. In class, Caswell grabs Yuma's Deck to and look through it for the Number cards, but couldn't find them. When Yuma says that he only has them when Astral is with him, Caswell then tells Yuma that his victory's over Shark and Flip were due to the Number and questions him about his skills. So Yuma decides to fight Shark again, but Bronk tells him that Shark hasn't been showing up to school lately and how after losing to Yuma, Shark's reputation dropped dramatically and rumors say he's been hanging out with some rough-neck "bad people".

Later, Yuma wanders the streets, remarking that his friends don't understand - he's much stronger than he was before. Later on, Yuma to find Shark, but is cornered by Chills, Scorch and their goons, then was lifted off the ground by his ankle. Luckily, Shark steps in and tells them to back off, leaving Yuma and his friends alone. When Yuma challenged Shark, he refuses to Duel and Yuma was shocked learning Shark to give up Dueling.

The next day, Yuma then proceeds to chase Shark and annoy him by requesting a Duel until he accepts. As the Duel progresses, Shark's burn strategy begins to take its toll on Yuma, who vows not to uses "Numbers". However, Shark tells him use his "Numbers" anyway, so Yuma brings out "Utopia", but it was not enough, as Shark weakened it with "Friller Rabca ", then proceeded to negate its effects and destroy it with his "Black Ray Lancer". With a final direct attack from "Aero Shark", Yuma lost the Duel, losing his pride along the way and was devastated. As Yuma bet his pendant in the Duel as a prize, but when Shark took it, he threw it behind him onto the ground beside Yuma, saying that it wasn't worth destroying as well as warning him not to bother him again.

After this, Yuma Duels Bronk without the Numbers only to lose a grand total of 20 times in a row. Eventually, Bronk stops Dueling Yuma for lying to him about using the Numbers. On the way to school the next day, Yuma catches up with Bronk, asking him if they can Duel today, but Bronk simply says he can't Duel with him anymore. Yuma shakes it off, saying there are plenty of other people to Duel with anyway. When Astral appears and tells him that it doesn't matter who he Duels with right now because Yuma, who usually at least use basic strategies in his Duels, but he isn't even doing that anymore - he's simply recklessly attacking over and over again. Yuma asks what he means, Astral responds that Yuma is irritated about losing to Shark. Astral says that Shark is indeed a very talented Duelist, but that is not the only reason he won.

Yuma again asks what he means and Astral says that Shark thoroughly studied Yuma's Deck and found the weakness of the "Numbers", but Yuma really knows nothing about Shark. Yuma thinks back to when Bronk speculated that something happened to Shark at Nationals and goes to do research on Shark. In the school library, Yuma and Tori goes on on the computer and find information, the article calls Shark the "tarnished champion candidate". They read that Shark was disqualified for peeking at his opponent's Deck before a Duel began. Tori says it's hard to believe that's why Shark was disqualified, but Yuma says it can't be true - the Duel he had with Shark was not with the type of person who would cheat like that.

After school, someone called Weasel runs up to them and says that 2 brothers in the gang Shark is affiliated with, is going to rob a powerful Deck in Heartland Museum and are going to place the blame on Shark. Despite Tori's complaints, Yuma heads to the Museum and is in time to stop Shark, Scorch, and Chills from robing the Museum and challenges them to a Duel if they win they can have "Number 39: Utopia".



Shark warned Yuma not to be concerned for him, but Yuma said he wouldn't leave him alone to steal the Deck. Yuma also pointed out that Scorch and Chills were just using him, that their hideout is not a place for him to stay, and that both Yuma and Shark are comrades. Shark then decides to Duel with Yuma against Scorch and Chills in a 2-on-2 Tag Duel. During the Duel, Yuma is amazed that Shark could Xyz Summon "Aero Shark" and inflict damage on his first turn, but Scorch summons Number 61: Volcasaurus and with it destroys both their monsters and reducing them to 2400 and 1100 life points. Having all their moves countered and with the appearance of Chills' "Number 19: Freezerdon", which gave "Volcasaurus" its Overlay Units back, Shark and Yuma were pushed into a corner.

Then Shark revealed what he had suspected Scorch and Chills were cheating by ordering their Decks so they would know what cards were in each others hands, so what they would draw, and they had rigged their D-Pad's Shuffle systems. When Chills tells Shark that he had cheated back at the National Duel Circuit, who said it was because he was afraid of losing, then they start mocking him for it, but Yuma defends Shark. Yuma says there was nothing wrong with being afraid of losing, which is why he used Numbers when he Dueled Shark, unaware that Tori and Bronk were near by listening.



After summoning "Utopia" and having it prevented from attacking by Chills's trap "Avalanche", Yuma used its effect to protect Shark from attacks, which would have caused him to lose. After having "Utopia" and the newly summoned "Black Ray Lancer" destroyed by "Volcasaurus", Shark narrowly avoids losing from a direct attack by using the trap "Final Offering", ending the battle phase and giving Yuma a card needed to win.

After eliminating Chills by forcing him to use his "Compensation Exchange" trap, which saved Volcasaurus by taking damage equal to its ATK, Yuma used "Monster Reborn" to bring back Shark's "Black Ray Lancer" and equip it with Shark's "Armored Xyz" he entrusted to him earlier. It allowed Yuma to give "Lancer" the properties of "Utopia", letting it destroy "Volcasaurus" and attack directly for the win. Bronk and Tori run up congratulating him for winning, and Yuma apologizes for lying. Bronk, with some urging from Tori, accepts the apology and asks for a Duel with him, which he happily accepts. Before Shark leaves, Yuma tries to return "Armored Xyz" to him, but Shark comments that his card was able to improve Yuma's game, allowing him to keep it. Yuma gets little annoyed being called a "no-good Duelist", making Shark smile and walk off as Yuma smiles and watches him.

While at the shopping mall, a criminal takes several people hostages, and Yuma Duel Gazer rings to have asks him where he is. Yuma tried to lies being saying he still at school, but Kari knew he was there because she can see him on the news. Kari orders Yuma obtain her a scoop she can on the occurrence, but before he could get close to the scene, Kite Tenjo and Orbital 7 caused the time to freeze. Yuma and Astral wasn't affected by this and realized that they could move around in this frozen time. Yuma learns at Duel was taking place and saw he the criminal is possessed by a "Numbers, he tries to get closer. Due to several blockages, Yuma arrives to finds the criminal, aged and continuously saying "Number Hunter". Yuma to figure out what happened, time start flowing again, and the Heartland police grab and attack him, which ends up on the news.



Since Astral learn that there is someone else collecting Numbers just like them and can somehow stopped time, he warns Yuma that someone might for them, but Yuma wasn't worry and it. At school, Bronk tells Yuma, Tori, and Caswell that the neighboring city has built a new Duel plaza, and the group decides to go there next Sunday. On the way back from the Duel plaza, it starts to rain, but as Yuma and Tori are looking for shelter, a truck is about to hit Tori. Yuma shoves her, putting himself in the way, then time suddenly stops again and they hear the same whistling they heard in the mall. They find themselves confronting the Number Hunter, who ties Yuma to a Duel Anchor stopping him from escaping and then Duel with their "Numbers" on the line. As Duel begins, Yuma watches as Kite has Summons "Number 10: Illumiknight" and "Number 20: Giga-Brilliant" and shortly after Summons his ultimate monster, "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon".



When Orbital 7 the Kite tells him to extract every drop of Yuma's soul, and Yuma asks what he means, he learns that when Kite that when he collects a Number, he steals the owner's soul. Yuma fights back with Number 39: Utopia and Number 17: Leviathan Dragon, but the hunter overpowers Yuma. However just before he can deal the finishing blow on Yuma, the robot informs him that his little brother has collapsed the Hunter cancels the Duel. Kite breaks the Duel Anchor from Yuma and tells him that his name is "Kite Tenjo" and to remember it well, and leaves starting time again. As time resume, the truck that almost hit Yuma and Tori to drive past, splashing water all over him. Falling to the ground, Yuma begins cry out of anger from almost losing to Kite so easily and asks what is "kattobingu" and what's being a Duel Champion. Yuma says that this way he could never be a Duel Champion, and then cries out in frustration. Yuma then falling into a state of depression and with his pride was severly hurt.



Shortly after Tori and Bronk inform Yuma of a tournament known as the World Duel Carnival, Haru Tsukumo convinces Yuma to go to a Duel Sanctuary to train in Dueling by asking him to do an errand. While there, Yuma Dueled the Sanctuary's master, Roku, he learned about what the monsters go through during all Duels and that he'll become better for understanding their struggle. Eventually, Roku's old apprentice, Kaze, appears and defeats the Roku, wanting to claim the Duel Sanctuary's Legendary Deck. However, Yuma interferes with his search and a Duel beings between them. Soon though, Kaze is revealed to have a Numbers, "Number 12: Crimson Shadow Armor Ninja".

After seeing his Number monster, Yuma begins to doubt his skills, but Astral tells him to believe in Roku's teachings, for they will lead to victory. With his and the monsters' feelings in mind, Yuma manages to defeat the Number monster and win. After being released from the Numbers and being accepted back to the Sanctuary, Kaze thanks Yuma. Kari, who was watching Yuma's Duel, realized how much he had grown through Dueling, and allowed him to do so, as long as he didn't overdo it. Before he leaves, Roku gives Yuma the Duel Sanctuary's Legendary Deck and tells him to prepare for the World Duel Carnival as many strong Duelists will be participating.

After putting together his new Deck, Yuma is prepared for the World Duel Carnival. However, Astral, still shaken up from his Duel with Kite, has his own doubts about it. Yuma eventually learns through a possessed Cathy that his friends are being held captive by Fortuno, a servant of Kite. Astral, scared of losing, was against the Duel, but Yuma eventually persuaded him and the two made off to face against Fortuno. Fortuno introduces himself as Kite's servant and tells him that Kite would be watching this Duel himself, scaring Astral, but not damaging Yuma's fiery spirit.



Once their Duel got started, Fortuno Summoned "Number 16: Shock Master" and the two were against the wall. However, Yuma managed to defeat the Numbers monster only to be shocked when Fortuno Summons his other Number Monster, "Number 11: Big Eye" and uses its effect to take control of Utopia. Also, throughout the Duel, Fortuno keeps sealing Yuma's summons up to the point where they think there's nothing else they can do. Astral was frightened about losing, but when Fortuno offers Yuma the deal of handing his Number monsters in exchange of his friends, Astral becomes willing to be sacrificed. Yuma refuses and when they eventually find out that the "Kite" watching them was nothing more than a statue, they once again gain hope. With a new power, Chaos Xyz Evolution, Yuma and Astral both Chaos Xyz Summon "Number C39: Utopia Ray" and defeat Fortuno. Astral then claims both numbers and Yuma saved his friends with the latter thanking Astral. Annoyed, Yuma then walks off in a fit due to his friends ignoring him.

One day at school, Mr. Kay tells Yuma's class that next Saturday is a Visitor Day. Bronk asks Tori which of her parents is coming, then noticing Yuma is listening, and apologies because his parents are absent. Yuma says its okay and he doesn't mind. When he arrives home, he notices both Haru and Kari have plans next Saturday, so he decides not to ruin their plans and not tell them about the Visitor Day. At night, Yuma looks sadly at picture of his parents sadly before going to sleep. In the morning, Yuma overslept as usual and left the house in a hurry, not noticing he forgot Emperor's Key. As Yuma was about to leave, he bump into Kari, who finds it strange that Yuma has classes on a Saturday, but Yuma was able to avoids her questions. While waiting at a crosswalk, Yuma notices he lost his key and skipped his classes to look for it.



After looking it for a while, Astral asks Yuma about his parents and Yuma fondly tells him about his father and how he obtained The Emperor's Key, and how he gave it to Yuma, teaching him the "Kattobingu" challenge. After finding the key in his attic, Yuma goes back to school just in time for P.E. class. Yuma spend the time watching his friends jumping over boxes when Kari and Haru arrived, finding out about the Visitor Day and realize that Yuma didn't tell them. Yuma was surprised, but happy when they cheer for him, who once again challenges jumping 20 stacks. Smiling, Yuma sees the stacks as a mountain, and seeing that his parents' spirits watching over him. Astral realizes everyone loves Yuma and cheers for him too, then Yuma leaps toward the boxes with his family and friends cheering him on.



After obtaining "Number 96: Dark Mist", he and Bronk got into a fight over being reckless in the Duel. Yuma spend the next day ignoring Bronk at school, but also remembering the day they met and became friends. While Tori urged Yuma to make up with Bronk, Yuma told Astral the Bronk wasn't his friend, with the latter being right front of him. When Yuma tried to solve the situation, Bronk accidentally knocks the Emperor's Key, causing Number 96 to take control of Astral. Just before the evil "Number" fully takes control of Astral, he tells Yuma to give his "Utopia" to Bronk so that he can Duel Number 96, and free Yuma and Astral. During the Duel, the Dark Mist manipulated and controls Yuma, who was forced to his cards to Duel for the it. On Astral's orders, Yuma pretended to be overtaken by 96 to fool it into destroying a card that Bronk could win without. Once Bronk re-summoned Utopia, he managed to defeat Number 96 and frees Yuma and Astral from its control.

After school one day, Yuma and his friends discover a duckling, which leads them to discover the Litterbot washed up on shore with the mother duck inside. After setting the mother duck free, Tori asks Yuma to fix the Litterbot, though Yuma had no clue of what to do. Due to one of the cables being severed, Tori helps by lending one of her heart pins to bind the cable, and Yuma was able reviving the broken Litterbot. After reviving, the Litterbot forms a bond with Yuma and fallow him back to his house, to his dismay. After the Litterbot defeats Yuma in a Duel, the Litterbot takes Tori's ribbon and ties it on itself leading Tori to assume it's a girl Litterbot, naming it Lillybot, which Yuma shortens to Lilly. Then Yuma and friends enjoy the day with Lilly - playing basketball, skateboarding, and beating both Yuma and Bronk in a Duel. At nigth, Yuma lets Lilly stays in Yuma's garage. Unknown to Yuma, the thief activates the control forcing Lilly to steal for him again, but not before she dropped one of her cards, which is "Star Light, Star Bright".

The following morning, after finding Lilly's card and Yuma discovers that Lilly is involved in the recent thefts in the city. Yuma and friends search for Lilly and confront the jewel thief. However, he manages to get away as Lilly causes distraction. Yuma Duels Lilly hoping that he can snap Lilly out of the thief's control. During the Duel, the thief triggers a 1-minute countdown to blow up the Litterbot, but Yuma successfully stopped the countdown by defeating Lilly.

One night, Yuma learns from Astral about the structure and ship in the Emperor's Key, making him fall out his hammock out of shock. Yuma questions Astral about the key, but Astral tells him that the structure looks like a giant puzzle and something might happen if the Numbers are collected. In the morning, Yuma was apparently late for school and was running through the hallways, having forget he has swimming in gym class today. At the pool, Yuma and Caswell get into an argument, who claimed  his key is dangerous. Though Yuma says it isn't, Casewell insists and reminds him that Yuma's key hurts his head. Yuma decides to go to his locker and put the key there, wondering if Astral will be fine, but he decides to leave. Later, Yuma and his classmates discovers the locker room in a mess, and his Emperor's Key was stolen. Yuma searches frantically for it only to find that Kite and Orbital 7 has the key with Astral still inside, and that Shark's soul was stolen.



After recruiting Mr. Kay to use a virus to find the location of Kite's hideout, Yuma, along with Bronk, Tori, Cathy, and Caswell go there, only to find that the doors are sealed shut. As he is giving up hope, Tori slaps him, bringing him back to his senses and reminding him of "kattobingu". The group begins to pull on the doors, only for them to open by Mr. Kay's bug. They go inside, looking for the Key, but are intercepted by Orbital 5 and Orbital 6. Yuma kicks the former in the face, but is spurred on by his friends, who say they will distract the robots while he looks for the Key. He does find the area with the key, but the door is locked. He is unable to open it, but discovers a picture of Kite and a mysterious young boy. After Orbital 7 arrived, the door opened and the robot attacked Yuma, but got his drills get stuck in a wall, giving Yuma the chance to enter the lab and find his key.

Yuma is called to The Door once again after his Deck begins to glow, with it telling him that, while he will lose his most precious thing as the price for the power it gave him, someone is interrupting their agreement, prompting him to fly through it and obtain the power of ZEXAL. He sees Astral's Duel with Kite, and wanting to help, does jump through, to which Astral initiates an Xyz summon, using the both of them as material. The two reappear as one, their bodies and souls overlayed together. Yuma continues the Duel in place of Astral, who tells him that their next draw would decide whether they won or lost. He calls out Shining Draw, getting the newly created "ZW - Unicorn Spear", using it as an equip card on "Number C39: Utopia Ray", giving it the ability to negate Kite's "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon's" effect, destroying it. Kite then uses his trap, "Photon Shock", giving them both the damage from that battle, ending the Duel in a Draw. Yuma questions Kite as to why someone like him would do something as devilish as steal peoples' souls for the Numbers, prompting him to say that he sold his soul to the devil long ago, and that his reasons were none of his concern Kite then gives Shark's soul back.



The building begins to self-destruct and Yuma's friends waits outside for him, but think it too late after it explodes. Yuma appears from out of the rubble, the Emperor's King around his neck once again. While celebrating his safety and the return of the Key, he notices Kite flying away from the area.

The next day, while running to school, time suddenly stopped, and only Yuma and Astral are able to move. Kite invaded Astral's memories, causing him to fly through the places where they Dueled so far. When time resumed again, Kite appeared telling him that they will settle their score in the WDC.

World Duel Carnival Preliminaries
A few days before the World Duel Carnival starts, Yuma waited for his Heart Pieces, but they didn't arrive as Yuma forgot to register online. When his friends reminded him, he quickly tried to register, but the registration time had already finished. Yuma panicky immediately ran into a building to ask for a Heart Piece, but the guards didn't let him enter until Mr. Heartland appeared and gave him a Heart Piece. Afterwards, with Yuma and Tori talks about how he can finally fulfill the promise he made with his father to become the Duel Champion. Astral tells Yuma that he must win since the tournament should have many Number holders. Yuma tells Astral that he doesn't plan on just winning, causing Astral to asks Yuma why he doesn't plan on fully winning since that would mean Yuma wouldn't be fulfilling the promise he made with his father. Yuma explains to Astral that he has thought to himself for a long time about what Dueling means to him. Yuma tells him that ever since he met Astral, he started to win despite losing all the time before, but when he lost against Shark and Kite, he understood that he could lose something important from losing for the first time, but he never hated Dueling despite it.



Yuma tells Astral that Dueling mean bonds and connection to him, and that Dueling and fighting is different. Astral doesn't want to agree to him since he would disappear if he lost, but Yuma tells Astral that he understand how he feels and will do anything to save him. However, Yuma have realized that there is something exceeding from winning and losing. Astral asks Yuma what he will do about Kite, where Yuma answers that he will lose his soul if he lost, but it won't change his Dueling. Then Tori worries what would happen if Yuma really lost his soul, but Yuma tries to comfort Tori and promises to win the tournament. The day the WDC started, Yuma went to the opening ceremony and listens to Mr. Heartland explains the rules. Just after the Carnival starts, Kakeru Kunitachi hits Yuma in the face with a soccer ball filled with cards, challenging him to a Duel.



Kakeru quickly reduces Yuma's life points and prevents him from attacking with his Soccer-themed Deck. During the Duel, Kakeru reveals that he used to play soccer in his older brothers' team, but Kakeru doesn't play as a team, so he quit the team and started Dueling instead. Yuma manages to win the Duel with his new Xyz Monster, Muzurhythm the String Djinn and reminds Kakeru that he likes to play soccer and rejoins his brothers' team. Kakeru gives Yuma his Heart Piece, earning his first Heart Piece.



Yuma's second opponent is Shobee Yuatsu. Shoobe thinks that a Duel is only about power and uses the Xyz monster with highest ATK so far. Yuma proves him wrong by defeating him without using any Xyz Monsters, instead, he reduced his monster's ATK to 0 and destroyed it with "Kurivolt" who only has 300 ATK and inflicted effect damage. With Shoobe's defeat Yuma now has 3 Heart Pieces; however, so far, only two pieces fit together, meaning Yuma will still need to collect three more fitting pieces.

His third opponent was Anna Kozuki, who was always carrying a cannon with her, which reflects in her Duels since she uses a beatdown strategy through effect damage. Even though Yuma defeated her, it was revealed she wasn't an actual participant in the tournament so she couldn't give him a Heart Piece. As Anna flew away, she thought of Yuma and developed a crush on him, along with a feeling of hatred immediately after, because those thoughts distracted her, causing her to smash her head against the railroad and she blamed him for it.



Yuma's fourth opponent was Housaku Yasai, who plays by the rules of "Vegetable Death Match" meaning he had to pull a vegetable from a basket at random and eat it every time he wanted to attack. Yuma was not able to attack for most of the Duel because he pulled a tomato every time he was about to attack and he said he hated tomatoes until Tori said that if he lost she would force Yuma to eat his food and Duel meals with tomatoes every single day. Scared of the thought of it, Yuma forced himself to eat one and after that, he thought that Housaku's tomatoes were delicious. Yuma won the Duel by summoning a new Xyz monster "Melomelody the Brass Djinn" and using "Gagaga Girl's" effect gaining his fourth Heart Piece.



His fifth opponent was Charlie McCoy, who plays cards with Die Roll effects and possess "Number 7: Lucky Straight" that gives luck to the player who has it, so Charlie wins all the Duels he plays. Charlie also used this card to steal cards and other things, among them being one of the Numbers, "Big Eye", so Yuma chased him and challenged him to a Duel on top of a train. Yuma defeated him because he "split the sun in two", as Charlie said that if the sun is split in two, the luck of "Number 7: Lucky Straight" would run out. Yuma destroyed Charlie's "Scales of the Sun", which symbolizes the sun, and then Summoned "Number C39: Utopia Ray" for the win. After that, Charlie returned the stolen Number card to Yuma.

During the second day of the WDC, Yuma and Tori Meadows went with Bronk and Caswell met with their star, IV, in a clearing for a Duel. IV seemed kind, but when he activated the card Gimmick Box, he showed his real face, which is cold and malicious, and he started to make suffer Caswell and Bronk, causing Yuma to become angry. After the IV's win, Yuma challenged him to a Duel, but Shark arrives and challenged him too, but IV went away. III, who is IV's brother, challenged Shark to a Duel, and Yuma watched it. Throughout the Duel, Yuma worried about Shark, but cheers him on and was happy that he won.

After the Duel, Yuma is irritated by whats going on with Shark and IV, and angrily says "Dueling isn't a tool for revenge!". Despite Tori's attempts to take his mind off it, Yuma snaps at her for trying to cheer him up, in which Tori walks away hurt. After a request from his sister to look for a Duelist named Shuta, he wonders where Tori went, and Astral clarifies that he said some hurtful things to her, which he denys.

Upon running into Syuta Hayami, they Duel, with Tori's life at stake due to Shuta's prediction with his photo. When Syuta summoned his numbers card, Yuma was pushed into a corner. Astral however told Yuma to ignore the photo's Syuta showed him. By doing so, Yuma was able to summon "Number C39: Utopia Ray" and win the Duel. Unfortunately, this didn't stop the prediction of Tori's fate, but Kite and Orbital 7 showed up and managed to safely put the ship on the ground. With Tori safe, Yuma got his fifth heart piece and "Number 25: Force Focus".



Later, he Duels Gauche and Droite in Flip's place, as Flip collected Heart Pieces using his "tricky ideas" until Gauche and Droite found out. He Duels without the help of Astral, as Astral is being cornered inside Emperor's Key by "Number 96: Dark Mist", he is unable to use the Numbers and is struggling against the teamwork of Gauche and Droite. As the Duel continues, their combination overpowered Yuma and drastically lowered his Life Points. On an attempt to turn the Duel around, Yuma managed to Summon "Utopia", surprising Gauche and his partner as he holds a "Number" card. After noticing their Photon cards, Yuma identifies them as being affiliated with Kite, and told them that he has Dueled Kite. Unable to counterattacked, Yuma gave up hope when they reduced him 100 to Life Points, but Astral returned and was briefly visible to everyone watching the Duel - revealing to Gauche and Droite he is in possession of the Original Number. With Astral's help, Yuma execute a winning move and won the Duel.

Afterwards, Yuma gather together with Tori, Flip, and Bronk, who tells how Caswell is doing. Flip comments that Yuma is the only one to have one in their group while Astral reminds him that the remaining contestants in the WDC are quite the competition as only strong people remain. Then Cathy appears behind Yuma and shows him that she gather three Heart Pieces. Yuma congratulates her on getting the Heart Pieces, and then shows her the four that he's collected four. Suddenly, a dog snatched Yuma's Heart Piece and ran off, but Cathy uses her ability with cats to search for dog's whereabouts for him. When managing to locate where the dog had gone, Yuma was shocked when a dog, named Chukichi spoke to the gang. After Cathy challenged the dog to a Duel, Yuma watches anxiously since his Heart Pieces are on the line. Yuma was shocked when the talking dog was revealed to actually be a little girl named Dog-chan. As the Duel continues, Yuma sees Dog-chan growing nervous and encourage her to "Kattobingu" and his his friends fallows suit. Yuma cheers for Dog-chan when she managed to win the Duel, but remembers his Heart Pieces were on the line. As the sun begins to set, Yuma stop sulking after Dog-chan gave him back his stolen Heart Pieces.



Later at night, Yuma encounters Hart Tenjo wondering the streets, and then takes him to his home. When Hart wonders out in the night, Yuma went after him, but notice that Hart was beginning to panic when they noticed the helicopter. Yuma quickly gave Hart a caramel and promised to take him to see his brother Kite, which calms him down, and then found out the helicopter which was piloted by V. V brainwashes Hart and takes him in his helicopter as Yuma yells Hart's name as it flew away.



Later on, after V brings Hart to a gallery, Yuma and Kite begin a Tag Duel against III and IV. . As the Duel begun, Kite used his field spell, which injured everyone else, including Yuma. Yuma got upset that Kite would hurt his own partner, but Astral reminded him that they were there to save Hart. As the Duel continued, Yuma tried to protect Kite, while playing his Number, much to III, IV and V's surprise, but it is destroyed by "Number 15: Gimmick Puppet Giant Killer".

Nonetheless, Yuma fights back using "Number C39: Utopia Ray", but IV manages to stop the damage from the attack and play "Number 40: Gimmick Puppet Heaven's String", much to Yuma's shock. After Kite was on the verge of defeat, Yuma told him to stand up, because if he didn't, Yuma asks him who else would protect Hart. Upon seeing Kite's new energy enveloping him, he lets him sacrifice his monsters and unleash "Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon", which wins them the Duel.

Afterwards, Yuma learns from V that his father is still alive in the Astral World. Although he decides to go there in hopes to find his father, he is stopped by Tori and his family along with Roku. Yuma decides to Duel Roku so he can leave. Despite faring well, he recklessly disregards Roku's Face-down Trap card "Mirror Force", which destroys all his monsters, and is then finished off by "Arcana Knight Joker". After some words from Roku, he comes to his senses, realizing he shouldn't run away or abandon Dueling.

During the next day, Yuma was ready to leave his house while lamenting how Roku was gone when he woke up. However, his grandmother assure him that Roku left relief that Yuma has chosen his path, which left him wondering what path he has taken. Kari said it is him winning the World Duel Carnival and becoming champion. Touched by his family's support, Yuma hurries outside to find his friends all gather to cheer him on. While walking, Yuma proclaimed on about winning anyone in the finals, but stopped and wonder about his path he choose again. Astral said that he shared Yuma's confusion, and reminds Yuma about others - Kite, Hart, Shark, and his father - whom he all wants to save. Yuma includes Astral too and say that he won't lose to anyone no matter what, making Astral smile. Yuma notice his friends listening, and said that he'll find a way to make everybody happy. When Yuma show his friends that he needs only one more Heart Piece, they started to search for a weak Duelist for Yuma, to his annoyance.

Later, Flip calls Yuma to a plaza, where he happily finds Nelson Andrews as "The Sparrow" Dueling against Gauche, where both Duelists are also happy to see him. Throughout the Duel, Yuma watches in awe and cheers for both sides. The Duel gets him excited, and spend most of his time bantering with Astral about Gauche, Nelson, and the moves they played. After Nelson lost, Yuma goes up to him and was happy that he had fun. He was little surprised, but touched when Nelson thanked Yuma for teaching him that Dueling was for fun. When Gauche came to them, Yuma finds out the he enter the WDC in order to Duel against him, and Gauche tells Yuma that he will be waiting in the finals. Yuma then listen to Nelson explaining how he can make others happy through Dueling and hearing Nelson's encouragements, Yuma thanks him for helping him realized his path and promised that he will always "Kattobing".

Yuma can't find anyone to Duel against, but ends up befriending III who was amazed by the artifacts in Yuma's room that Yuma's father found. After spending part of the day with Yuma and his family, III remembers how his family used to be and challenges Yuma to a Duel.



During the Duel, III uses his new powers to erase Yuma's memories of "Kattobing" and his father's teachings. Due to the power of III's Crest Yuma is unable to see Astral or the Emperor's Key and becomes weak, cowardly and wants to surrender the Duel until his father appears in the Emperor's Key to release Yuma from III's influence. Upon returning to normal, Yuma learns that III destroyed Astral, which makes him mad and proceeds to use "Number 39: Utopia" and later "Number C39: Utopia Ray", but III counters with Number 6: OOPArts Atlanthal.



III uses the Trap card "Angolmois" to protect "Atlanthal", but doesn't realize that the card opens a portal to the Barian World. III's Crest starts damaging his body, but Yuma manages to convince III to work together with him to revive Astral, use the ZEXAL power and defeat "Atlanthal". After Yuma's victory over III, III gives Yuma his "Numbers" and a Heart Piece and leaves asking Yuma to save his family. Yuma completes his Heart Pieces and advances to the WDC finals.

World Duel Carnival Finals
After Yuma advanced to the finals, he goes to the finals party and brought his friends along, but forgets his invitation. Flip helps him and his friends sneak into the party, they get caught again, but Gauche appears and helps them get into the party. During the party, Yuma notices Kite talking to V and tried to reach them, but to no avail and then tried looking for Shark. After Tron interrupts Mr. Heartland's speech, and reveals himself Yuma realizes that he is the one III was talking about during their Duel and leaving Yuma confused. After Flip's antics cause a mess at the party, Yuma found Kite on his way out and asked how Hart was. Kite told him not to concern himself with that and focus on the confrontation the two will surely have in the finals. Yuma agreed, only to hear Kite telling him that it's not Yuma he's looking forward to defeating - it's Astral, much to Yuma's annoyance, but smiles as Kite left.



On the morning of the Finals, Yuma sleeps outside the stadium, as not to be late again. Upon boarding his Duel Coaster car, he realizes he forgets his Heart Pieces, as they are required to start. Yuma's sister and his friends work together to get his Heart Pieces to him, and he starts the course, with Tori in the passenger seat next to him by mistake. He notices many of the Duels and the quick victories of the other Finalists. Yuma is cornered by the Fallguys and forced into a Duel formation, making a 3 on 1 Battle Royal against him. However, Anna, and her sacrifice as well as Gauche's interference, Yuma was able to defeat the Fallguys but only has 600 Life points left.

Yuma enters the underground sector and realizes that only 8 Duelists can go to the Duel Fields, so he rushes to find someone but doesn't realize a Trap point. The Trap throws a boxing glove that punches him and inflicts 200 damage to him twice. Yuma then encounters another trap point, and slows down in desperation. The trap card, "The Paths of Destiny", still activates. Yuma tosses a coin for its effect, and since the coin landed on heads, Yuma recovers 2000 Life Points. He then proceeds to save Gauche who was about to be eliminated by V. Yuma guides Gauche to "The Paths of Destiny" and tells him to use it to recover his Life Points. Yuma leaves but once again runs into the Boxing Glove Trap, but this time it punches Tori, which makes her mad.



Later, Yuma unintentionally drove his Duel Coaster car into Jungle Field where Droite and Tron are Dueling. At first during the Duel, Yuma has faith that Droite win against Tron, given the advantage she has. However, Tron manages to pull himself out and beat Droite with only 100 Life Points. After Tron removes her memories of Kite and leaves her emotionally scarred, Yuma vows to Duel Tron for her sake.



After the duel, Yuma and Tori run into Orbital 7, who was looking for Kite and crashed into his Duel Coaster. Remembering Droite's request, Yuma told Orbital to show him the way to Kite and finds him dueling with V on the Space field. Upon crashing into the field, Yuma relays his message to Kite about Droite after her duel with Tron, and gets angry with him after he shrugs off the information. Afterwards, V tells the story of what happened to Yuma's father, who was shocked upon finding out what happen to his father and his connections to Tron and Dr. Faker. Yuma stayed to watch the duel between V and Kite, and cheers Kite on. Yuma's actions were questioned by V, who point out that Kite is Faker's son, and Faker betrayed Kazuma - and he is a Number Hunter who will hunt Yuma as well. Yuma says he knows that, but adds that he has Dueled Kite and that means they are friends, and Kite is also his goal. After Kite successfully defeated V, Yuma converses with Astral on how Tron and Dr. Faker's plans began as Astral came to his world. Yuma concludes that that his father wants him and Astral to stop them, and proclaimed he will fight against those "stubborn adults".



While on his Duel Coaster, Yuma muttering about defeating Tron and Dr. Faker, and expressed his anger how they used their sons as tools. After Astral told Yuma that he feels a strong pulse coming from the left side - the same one given off by the crests of III and V - Yuma heads off towards that direction in hopes of finding Tron. However, Yuma wanders into the field where Shark and IV were having their final showdown. Yuma cheers Shark on and worries for him as he summon Number 32: Shark Drake onto the field. When Tron appeared before Yuma, he listens to Tron explaining his plans concerning Shark. While watching Shark suffer under IV's combo with Number 40: Gimmick Puppet Heaven's String, Yuma tried to save Shark and urged them to stop the meaningless fighting, but was restrained by Tron's chains from the Barian World. Yuma continues to rant, saying that those who Duel become friends - it shouldn't be used to hurt people. Tron compares how Yuma really is just like his father, Kazuma, who always talked about Yuma, bonds and making people happy. Tron tried to convince Yuma to get revenge on Dr. Faker for what he had done to Kazuma. Tron say that if that happens, darkness will be born from Yuma's heart and then spread, but Yuma lashed out on him and said he won't forgive Tron's actions. Tron says that's very good - darkness is being born in Yuma's heart from his anger, and urges Yuma to hate both him and Dr. Faker.



When Shark turned the tide with "Number C32: Shark Drake Vice", the chains were broken and Shark won the duel. After IV left through the portal, Shark told Yuma he would not forgive him if he got in the way, which only made Yuma more determined to reach the finals.



Afterward, while thinking about the duels he witnessed, Yuma carelessly runs into the "Cementery Bomb" trap reducing his lifepoints to 100. Finally after to the "Dangerous Canyon" field, Yuma began his duel against Gauche. Wanting a fair fight against Yuma, Gauche activates the trap, "Heroic Gift", that restores his life points back to 4000. However, still shaken up from seeing the other duels, Yuma plays a more defensive strategy, which disappoints Gauche. Astral tells win he can't win the way he's playing now and that Yuma is afraid, but Yuma rebuff him and continue playing his way. After Gauche told Yuma must come at him with his true Dueling, Yuma realized he must bet everything on this Duel. Returning to offensive style, Yuma began to Duel up to Gauche's expectations. Midway through the Duel, racks of the Duel Coaster abruptly end and they flung onto the ground below, and the field switched to "Battleground of the Setting Sun". Accepting Gauche's wish to finish the battle using their respective ace monsters,Yuma Summon "Number 39: Utopia" through the effect of Gauche's "Xyz Hot Blooded Battle!!". Using his "Double or Nothing!" combo, Yuma increased the ATK of "Utopia" and defeated "Heroic Champion - Excalibur", thus winning him the Duel. Yuma and Gauche exchanges world, with the latter giving him "Excalibur" and wish Yuma luck in the finals.

Tori Meadows
Yuma seems to harbor passionate feelings for his childhood friend, Tori, but is oblivious to her crush on him. Tori has shown many evident that she harbors a crush on Yuma, due to her annoyance at Yuma's adoration with Cathy's Dueling abilities, which she doesn't show towards male Duelists that Yuma admires. She blushes whenever Yuma makes a friendly comment towards her-and is also evidenced when she is worried about Yuma, to which the latter makes a kind gesture by putting a hand on her shoulder, saying he will be all right. Another blatant way that this is evident is that Yuma has gone out of his way to protect Tori many times such as when he thought Cathy had kidnapped her, which also allowed him to Duel without the assistance of Astral or any of the Numbers, winning him the Duel. In episode 9, it may be said that Yuma could have a slight crush on Tori, as he talks in his sleep saying "Of course, Tori!", but is mostly platonic towards her.

This is also present in episode 13 when Yuma pushed Tori out of the way of getting run over by a truck, placing himself in her position, which if Kite Tenjo didn't pause the time, would have resulted in Yuma being critically injured or causing his death. More evidence can be observed of Yuma's feeling for Tori is from Episode 9, where during the usual scene when Yuma puts on his D-Gazer, he isn't wearing his casual Dueling smile, showing his absolute seriousness for victory so he can find her.

In Episode 17, when he entered the lair of Fortuno, who had kidnapped Tori, Bronk, Flip, and Caswell, he only called out to Tori despite clearly seeing the others held captive as well. Yuma's feelings for Tori start becoming more obvious during the first day World Duel Carnival when Yuma helps Tori escape from Shobee Yuatsu's Excavation machine and Anna Kozuki's cannon blasts.

When Yuma realized that Astral was gone he looked at his friends, but seemingly only believed Tori, showing he takes her word over the other's.

Kari Tsukumo
It is indicated that Yuma and Kari have a tendency to argue with each other, in a typical "brother-sister" relationship. Kari has a habit of making Yuma search for scoops she can use, even if it puts her brother at risk. Kari also doesn't allow Yuma to Duel, much to Yuma's chagrin, though Yuma finds ways around it. Yuma doesn't seem to sympathize with Kari very often, seen when she is depressed about apparently failing to make a delivery, Yuma ignores her completely. Likewise, Kari doesn't seem to sympathize with Yuma much either, and seems to blame him initially for things he had nothing to do with.

Despite their tendency, they do seem to genuinely care about each other. When Kari was instructing Yuma not to Duel, her face showed concern at one point, indicating that she does worry about Yuma to an extent. Yuma also affectionately refers to her as "Nee-chan" meaning older sister in the Japanese way, indicating that he also cares for her. He also was concerned when he heard her scream. Although, the reason for not letting Yuma Duel is to protect him, in Episode 16, she allows him to Duel as long as he doesn't overdo it. Later, it was revealed that their parents trusted Kari to look after Yuma, and apparently rely on her to protect him.

Bronk Stone
Bronk is first shown to make fun of Yuma's "Kattobingu" challenges and laugh mockingly whenever Yuma fails, but later finds the broken piece of Yuma's pendant and is present when Yuma Duels Reginald in order to recover Bronk's Deck.

Yuma constantly challenges Bronk to Duels, only to lose over 40 times in a row. In episode 20, they are shown to trust each other enough for Yuma to entrust Bronk his "Utopia" and Bronk to Duel Number 96 and rescue Yuma and Astral.

Astral
When they first met, Yuma had mixed feelings about Astral when all he did was tell him how to Duel during his Duel with Shark. Though Astral was insightful and was always thinking about what his opponent would be capable of doing, Yuma ignored his advice and continued playing his way. Eventually, Astral figured out a way to have Yuma listen to him and over time, Yuma began trusting Astral more and more with each Duel. They are shown on numerous occasions to be able to talk telepathically.

After the Duel with Kite Tenjo, the two realized that they needed the other's skill, and this was proven during the Duel with Fortuno and the second time with Kite, as they unlocked Number C39: Utopia Ray and overlaid using the power of ZEXAL.

At times, Yuma doesn't openly admits that he was worries or care about Astral, usually feigning anger and yells at him, which only makes Astral smile because he can tell Yuma's true feelings. In dire situations, Yuma openly shows concerns and proclaimed he will do anything to protect him from danger. It shown that Yuma deeply cares for Astral as he couldn't believe Astral would leave and as he cried for his death.

Astral has shown many times how much he cares about Yuma, willing to give up his life for Yuma's safety. Astral has also been seen smiling more since Yuma told him that he is his friend, and encourages Yuma to never give up. Later, it was revealed that Astral has been teaching Yuma how to Duel, since one day he'll disappear and Yuma will have to fight alone. He also said that when he disappears, he would want to leave proof that he exists in Yuma's memory and heart. After Astral was revived, Yuma was greatly relieved as he cried tears of joy.

Nearing to the finals, Yuma and Astral converse on what to do with the "Numbers" and their situation with Hart Tenjo. Yuma is torn between helping Astral or healing Hart, but Astral assured Yuma that he will follow whatever path Yuma choose as his partner.

Reginald Kastle
Yuma's relation with Shark starts before they Dueled each other and became rivals, and although they never met before that, Yuma knew that he was the school's bully. He had just defeated Bronk and took his Deck, claiming a weakling didn't need it. Yuma stood up for him and in a twist of events, Shark crushed Emperor's Key and accepted Yuma's challenge. With their Duel underway, the power of "Numbers" was released and Shark was overtaken by a "Numbers" and quickly summons it to put Yuma in his place. However, with the appearance of Astral and Yuma's new Xyz Monster, Number 39: Utopia, Shark loses the Duel and his "Numbers".

Soon after, Shark falls into the "wrong crowd" and stops Dueling all together, but with persistence from Yuma, Shark agrees to Duel him again. Despite his "Numbers," Yuma loses to Shark, who then tells him to never interfere with his life. However, Yuma disobeys this after learning of why Shark was the way he was. The two then have a Tag Duel against two brothers who also carried "Numbers" that supported each other. Despite that, Shark was able to aid Yuma, who protecting him from any damage, and give him the final trump card that would defeat the two brothers. As a sign of respect for Yuma, he allowed him to keep the card he won with.

Mr. Kay made a remark that Shark had changed due to Yuma's influence and now he sees Yuma as a friend and ally. Although friends, Shark doesn't hang around Yuma as much as his other friends, due to his aloof nature, but is shown to have a soft spot for him. In addition, Shark often reflects on his time with Yuma, even watches Yuma from afar when he see him. Despite his distance nature, Shark is willing to open up to him (to an extent), but tends to push him away sometimes. In turn, Yuma admires Shark and worries about him if he does anything he thinks is wrong or dangerous. When knowing things concerning Shark, Yuma would focus his attention on helping him and putting himself in harms way, even sometimes ignoring or lashing out on his friends or Astral if they tried to stop him.

Throughout the World Duel Carnival, their friendship becomes strained as Shark became focused on revenge on IV and continually told Yuma "Don't get involved with me" when they meet. When Yuma learns how violent Shark had become, Yuma challenge him to a Duel, which Yuma made no move to attack, and let Shark take his anger out on him. Although, Shark didn't want to hurt Yuma, he was angry at Yuma's persistence and Number's influence cause him grow more aggressive. Eventually, Yuma tells Shark he doesn't want to see way he is now, shocking him, and is follow by his stomach growling. As Shark watch Yuma and Tori shout at each other, he smiled and the darkness in his heart disappeared. Shark then cancelled the Duel, claiming that seeing Yuma being an "idiot" made him lose his drive. Before walking away, Shark tells Yuma that he would meet him the finals and they exchanged smiles.

During the WDC party, Yuma tried looking for Shark, showing his concern for Shark, and because he has something to ask him, but couldn't find him. During the finals of WDC, Yuma stumbles across Shark Duel with IV and stayed to cheer him on. When Shark summoned Number 32: Shark Drake, Yuma worried about him due to the "Number"'s influence, and cried out to Shark as he was brutally attacked eight times by IV. As the Duel continues, Yuma tried to pull Shark away the "Number"'s influence, but Shark eventually gives into it. After Shark wins the duel, Shark set his revenge on Tron and told Yuma he won't forgive him if got in his way, straining their friendship once again.

Kite Tenjo
As rivals in hunting "Numbers", Yuma and Kite see each other as enemies. Kite first thought Yuma was a regular "Numbers" Holder and tried to get his Number. During the Duel, Kite was surprised that Yuma used 2 "Numbers", and identified him as Number Hunter, but looked happy to have a rival.

When Yuma interfered in Kite and Astral's Duel, which ended in a Draw, Yuma asked to Kite why he is collecting Numbers. Kite only answers that he sold his soul to the devil in exchange of his brothers' sake.

Determine to duel Yuma, Kite told Yuma that they will settle their score in the World Duel Carnival. Knowing that Astral helps Yuma, Kite sees Astral as his rival not Yuma, whom Kite considered as "just an idiot".

Despite their differences, they join up to rescue Hart from the Tron Family, which resulted is a Tag-Team Duel.

Kite seems to have grown to respect Yuma as he begin to call him by his first name, however he still doesn't see him as his rival and still dislikes him.

Hart Tenjo
Yuma found Hart walking in the middle of a busy street and recognized him as Kite's brother, and then tried to protect him from the up coming truck. After Hart had blown a huge hole in the truck, Yuma kindly let Hart come home with them and let him stay for the night. Yuma was also happy when Hart finally started to eat something and enjoyed his time at dinner. At night, Yuma let Hart sleep in his hammock and covered him with a blanket.

While Hart was having a power surge, Yuma ran into the explosion and hugged Hart, telling him "you're not alone". Also, Yuma helped Kite rescue Hart from the Tron Family, and showed great concern when Hart was found unconscious.

Yuma seems to have grown close to Hart, while speaking to him in his mind he ask Yuma and Astral to save his brother, Kite.

III
At first, Yuma thought of III as an enemy because he is part of the Tron Family, but he learned that III likes all the artifacts that his dad had found, and let him stay at his house for lunch. Yuma thought that they had become friends, but III thought of his childhood and asked Yuma for a Duel.

When the Duel commenced, III said he wanted to defeat Yuma because it would help his family. In that Duel, III became an uncontrollable monster, by the power of his Crest, which cause him to very brutal to Yuma, and had supposedly killed Astral, causing Yuma great anger and sadness.

After unleashing the card, Angolmois, which pulled them into another dimension, III had a change of heart and used the power of his crest to help Yuma bring Astral back and asked them to defeat him. When Yuma won the Duel, and found III laying on the ground, Yuma quickly came to his side to help him up. Having developed a friendship with III, III asked Yuma to save his family before he disappeared with leaving behind his two "Number" cards and a Heart Piece. After the Duel, he said the he will save III's family.

Manga biography
The manga is set in an alternate universe than the anime and as such contains different events. Like in the anime, Yuma along with Astral are collecting the "Number" archetype, which starts off similar to the anime, but then spans off to a different storyline.

Deck
Yuma uses a "Xyz One Turn Kill" Deck, which is supported by the powerful "Number" cards and focuses on performing Xyz Summons. His has a high number of Trap Cards, which mostly protect his monsters and reduce battle damage. He can support his monsters with some ATK boosting cards, like "Wonder Wand", "Blustering Winds", "Bound Wand", and "Double or Nothing!". His signature card is "Number 39: Utopia". Like his other "Numbers" however, he can only use it when Astral is fighting by his side. His main strategy focuses on bringing out "Utopia" and make it strong enough to beat the opponent. And if that fails he will resort to using "Number 17: Leviathan Dragon" instead.

After his time at the Duel Sanctuary, Roku gave Yuma the "Duel Sanctuary Legendary Deck". According to Roku, the Deck is appropriate for Yuma and should answer his feelings. Yuma combined elements from both this Deck and his first Deck into a single Deck. Also, if Yuma and Astral believe in their possibilities, they gain the power to Chaos Xyz Evolution "Utopia" into "Number C39: Utopia Ray". Using ZEXAL, it can be further upgraded with "ZW - Unicorn Spear" or "ZW - Phoenix Bow".

In the World Duel Carnival, Yuma seems to be focusing on fighting less with his "Numbers", instead he uses normal Xyz Monsters against opponents that lack "Numbers" of their own. This is due to him feeling that it is unfair to use "Numbers" against a non-"Number" user.

Yuma's Deck has parallels with those of Yugi Muto, Jaden Yuki and Yusei Fudo. Like Yugi, he uses a Deck which previously belonged to a relative. Like Jaden, he obtains a new Deck which he combines with his own. Like Yusei, he makes extensive use of his series' new mechanic. Like the three of them, his ace card, "Number 39: Utopia" has 2500 ATK.