Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL - Episode 003

"The Events After the Fact" is the third episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL anime. It first aired in Japan on April 25, 2011.

Summary
Inside a lab, a man is typing on his computer and, on the screen, a Crashbug appears. That man is shown to have a purple aura around him, and he smiles when he sees the Crashbug appear. Then several Crashbugs are sent through the city's network, infecting all electronic equipment, changing all traffic lights to red and making the cleaning robots see people as trash.

Yuma is walking back home and asks Astral if he's going to keep following him. Astral replies that, it's not that he doesn't want to leave, it's just that he doesn't know how, but he might learn how to, once he regains all of his memories. Yuma asks him how are his memories going to return. Astral says that it's by gathering all of the Numbers cards. Yuma is surprised at hearing this and angrily asks Astral if that means Yuma will be the one who has to do it. Tetsuo and Kotori look at Yuma but, since they can't see Astral, Tetsuo comments that Yuma is talking to himself again. Kotori wonders if the "Duelist Spirit", as she calls to Astral, really exists. Yuma tells Astral it's a definite "no" to having to gather the Numbers cards and, so, Astral should stop following him. While Yuma is saying this, Tetsuo waves his hand, trying to feel some invisible presence, but can't. Kotori says that Yuma as been acting really weird lately. Astral tells Yuma of his observation nº 2: "You are weird" and says that he'll be sure to remember it, to which Yuma replies he's not weird.

After that, a loud scream is heard in Yuma's house and they run towards it. Yuma asks Akari what happened and they see her staring at several screens with the word "ERROR". She is baffled by this event and says that her manuscript is gone because her system's been infected by a virus and there's only one hour left for the deadline. Yuma tells Akari to calm down. Akari becomes desperate, saying she won't make the delivery. Yuma reminds his friends that, in situations like these, it's difficult to deal with Akari and Kotori suggests they should get out of there. They start running but Akari yells at Yuma, telling him to find an explanation as fast as possible.

Back in the streets, Yuma complains that it's impossible to deal with his sister when she gets like that but, that aside, he comments that there is way too much delay in the traffic. Tetsuo agrees with Yuma and Kotori explains that all traffic lights are jammed and the monorail is stuck in its tracks. Then, a juice vending machine next to them starts to send many juice cans out for free. Yuma says that they're lucky because it's raining juice. Yuma grabs a whole lot of juice cans but Kotori says he can't just take them. Yuma says he'll give them back but is unable to finish his sentence because, at that moment, a cleaning robot grabs him and puts him upside down inside the trash can. Yuma keeps yelling at it, telling it to let go.

Back at his house, a piece of news on the television is talking about the massive system blackout the city suffered. Akari turns the TV off and repeats that her manuscript's gone. Yuma, with his dinner in front of him, says it's time to dig in. Akari is extremely sad, saying she missed the delivery but Yuma ignores her and tells his grandmother that he got grabbed by one of the cleaning robots and Haru tells him the same happened to her. Akari asks what's that all about and Yuma answers it went on the news, talking about a big crisis. He also mentions the vending machine which broke down. Yuma then notices the monorail's working again to which Haru comments that things are finally working again. Akari says that, basically, she wasn't the only one who lost her data and she finds that such a thing smells fishy. Haru and Yuma start smelling themselves to see if the smell is theirs but Akari says it's the incident that smells. She says she can't waste any time, she needs to replenish her energy and, with that, she grabs a fish to eat. Yuma complains that's his fish but Akari completely devours it and runs. Astral watches and understands that eating is the method humans use to replenish their energy. Yuma is then shown to be sitting on the toilet "releasing that energy". Astral is outside the toilet, talking to himself to memories that, he thinks, after replenishing energy, that energy is released. Yuma yells from the inside, saying there are lots of reasons for this. Astral is confused as to why he can't join Yuma inside the toilet and Yuma calls him an idiot and says it's obviously a secret the way they release their energy and if someone saw them while doing it, they'd die. Astral is surprised that humans would go to such lengths for nourishment and tells Yuma of his observation nº 3: "Humans must eat and release in an endless combination. However, they will die the moment anyone sees them doing this." Yuma tells him to shut up. Astral comments it's peculiar since, if humans can operate in such a perfect combination, why is it that Yuma's dueling is so incompetent. Yuma feels insulted by this and asks what does Astral mean by that and Astral simply says that, when it comes to dueling, Yuma is just unskilled. Yuma gets out of the toilet and tells him to shut up and that there is no such thing as a "perfect human", that it's more fun when people fail. Astral warns Yuma that, if he fails, he'll lose something of great value but Yuma says he can't bring it to 'em if he's scared of failing and that a spirit will never understand that. Yuma then walks down the hallway leaving Astral behind.

At night, while Yuma is asleep, Astral is certain that he has a very important mission to fulfill and that he's been stuck with Yuma in order to complete that mission. However, his memories have been trapped within 99 different cards, those being the Numbers. He then says his memories won't return unless he gathers them all. Astral then comments that Numbers have the power to control humans since Yuma was able to use the Numbers card to his fullest while he couldn't, he just doesn't know why. He thinks it could be something Yuma has and with that, Astral touches Yuma's key. From it, comes a yellow light, sending Astral inside the key. Inside the key, Astral is shown to be in a desert sort of area with a huge green figure in the sky. Back in the lab, the man contemplates his many Crashbugs in the computer.

Yuma fall to the ground and wakes up in the morning. He happily says that Astral is not with him anymore. The clock shows Yuma he's late for school. At school, in a classroom, Yuma is relieved since he made it on time. Professor Kitano tells all the students that, due to the previous day's communication blackout, all of the school's computers aren't working and, therefore, the students can't access the textbooks. Professor Kitano still tries to go on about explaining the cause of the error but Takashi Todoroki interrupts him, asking him to answer that. Surprised, Ukyo asks Takashi if he knows something about this. Takashi says he does and that he simply used his programming skills to mentally place himself in a similar setting and that, to summarize, the malfunctioning was caused by someone infiltrating the city's host computer. He still tries to talk about how to solve it, but Yuma proposes professor Kitano to make that day into a Duel Tournament. Ukyo thinks about it and allows it. All the students are happy about it and praise their teacher. Takashi is angry because he was in the spotlight and challenges Yuma to a duel and, to summarize, Yuma'll duel with him. Yuma accepts. Takashi asks Yuma is there's merit to the rumors that he defeated Shark and Yuma says it's true. Takashi doesn't believe in it since Yuma never defeated him in his entire life. Tetsuo confirms it to be the truth as well as Kotori. Todoroki than says that, to summarize, if he beats Yuma, that means he's stronger than Shark. Yuma ignores that question and comments that Todoroki keeps saying "to summarize" and that it would be really bad if his throat was sun-mothered by that sea lion-sized sentence. Takashi doesn't understand that comment and Tetsuo and Kotori just sigh. Yuma opens his Extra Deck, saying he has a Numbers card but he notices his Extra Deck is empty. Yuma nervously says the Numbers card is gone. Takashi begins his turn and draws a card. Yuma still tries to stop the duel, yelling at him to hold on a minute.

The duel is skipped to one of Takashi's turns, when he orders his "Crashbug X" to attack Yuma directly, depleting Yuma's life points from 100 to 0, whereas Takashi's life points are unscathed at 4000. Kotori says he totally wiped the floor with Yuma. Takashi says it was expected that someone who never studies, like Yuma, could never defeat him and that, to summarize, a fool can't hope to win a duel. Professor Kitano tells Takashi not to be like that. He says that life and dueling are one and the same and they both never go as planned, that one should learn by messing up. He uses the example of Crashbug who lives off of failure but becomes extremely powerful because it lives off its bug friends. He also adds that it's said that those who witness its full moon-like appearance may forever live in happiness. Takashi says that, to summarize, there's no such thing in real life but Ukyo says there is, he's certain of it. Ukyo tells Yuma that it's fine that he lost, he just has to learn from it and asks him that isn't that the challenge spirit he likes to call "bringing to 'em". Yuma is moved by Ukyo's words and agrees with him, saying he'll always do that.

After school, Yuma is walking back home with Kotori, commenting that professor Kitano is really a nice guy and really smart when it comes to teaching math. Yuma says he'll definitely become someone like him. At that moment, a car passes by them and Akari appears by the window, saying hello to Yuma and inviting them for a ride. Akari says it was a great thing that the computer virus incident only lasted for a while. She explains that, if things had lasted longer, the entire city would be thrown into panic, the banks' data would be erased and rewritten and the hospital would lose all its data. Yuma is surprised by this and Kotori asks who would try to do such a thing. Akari answers that the computer virus was transferred from the jurisdiction within their school. Akari drives them back to school and then asks both of them to stake out the jurisdiction because there's a good chance the culprit will appear again. Kotori is happy, thinking it seems pretty interesting and asks Yuma if he feels the same. Yuma just asks Akari why he has to do this to which Akari replies she doesn't want to hear any complaints since it was her article that was ruined by the virus. She adds that, once they find the culprit, she'll karate chop him until he's blue in the face.

Inside the school's library, Kotori tells Yuma that his sister said the culprit would have to appear there in order to access his personal computer. Yuma is bored but Kotori insists he should shape up and look out for the culprit as well. They wait the whole day until there's no one else in the library. Yuma yawns and Kotori says it's almost closing time. Yuma says that maybe he just didn't come today but Kotori sees Takashi inside the library, looking quite suspicious in their opinion. Yuma runs to him. Kotori sees Takashi taking out a flash drive and plugging it on to the computer. Once he does, Takashi's computer gets full of Crashbug images and, at that moment, Yuma grabs Takashi and accuses him of being the culprit of the virus incident. Takashi denies this, saying he's not the culprit, he was being used. Yuma calls Takashi a liar since he saw him inputting the virus, however, Takashi says he's intercepting the true culprit. He explains that, by searching for any locations that accessed the machine from the outside, he'll find out where the culprit is. Takashi then complains that he only came to the library to retrieve the data files in order to reveal the culprit's whereabouts, but ended up activating the installation files that launch the virus bomb and, therefore, launched the virus bomb into the city. He ends up finding out the culprit's location. Akari talks to Yuma through her computer and Yuma tells her that Todoroki triggered the bomb and that he's looking for the culprit, so it'll have to be Akari to do something about the bomb. Yuma then hangs up.

Yuma, Kotori and Todoroki reach a tall building and Todoroki tells them the culprit is at the very top of the tower. Once they get inside the top, the door shuts and they find out the real culprit was, in fact, Professor Ukyo Kitano. Ukyo explains that all that happened, even they finding their way to the tower, was according to his plan. He then adds that the virus bomb Todoroki uploaded will go off in 30 minutes. Todoroki realises that makes him an accomplice. Ukyo shows them the mark 34 on his neck and Yuma realizes it's a Numbers mark.

In the world inside the key where Astral is, he makes his observation nº 4: "This is not something of this world.". Astral thinks it may be hiding some message within. Then a red light starts to shine and Astral recognizes it as a Numbers. Yuma's key reacts and Astral leaves it, returning beside Yuma. Yuma is baffled when he sees him because he didn't leave after all. Takashi finds it weird that Yuma's talking to himself and so he asks Kotori why he's doing that. Kotori understands that means the dueling spirit appeared again. Yuma then asks Ukyo why he's doing something like this and Ukyo replies Yuma should consider it a challenge no different than "bringing it to 'em". Yuma says it's not because it causes trouble for other people. Astral tells Yuma to duel him and tells him his heart has been engulfed by the Numbers and that trying to persuade him is pointless unless they remove the Numbers card from him. Yuma proposes that, if Ukyo loses, he'll agree to stop the virus bomb. Ukyo accepts the terms of the duel but wonders if Yuma can actually oppose him.

Ukyo begins his turn and Sets a monster in face-down Defense Position. He then ends his turn. Yuma draws a card and Normal Summons "Gagaga Magician". Yuma has no idea what the DEF of the monster Ukyo Set is, but he still attacks. The monster that was Set was "Crashbug X" with 2000 DEF, lowering Yuma's Life Points to 3500. Takashi explains that, when a monster attacks a Defense Position monster with higher DEF, the monster that attacked isn't destroyed but its controller suffers damage equal to the difference. Yuma ends his turn. Ukyo draws and Summons "Crashbug Y". After that, he activates "Crashbug Road", Special Summoning "Crashbug Z". Yuma wants to Special Summon "Gogogo Golem" and Astral advises him to Summon it in Defense Position due to its effect, however Yuma plays it in Attack Position. Once he does that, Ukyo says Yuma has just given him the chance for his perfect victory. Ukyo overlays the three Bugmen, Xyz Summoning "Number 34: Terror-Byte" in Defense Position. After seeing the Number monster, Yuma checks his Extra Deck and, in it, there are 2 Xyz Monsters, "Number 17: Leviathan Dragon" and "Number 39: Utopia". Yuma sees he has "Leviathan Dragon" and wonders if Astral took it from Shark. Ukyo activates the effect of "Terror-Byte", detaching one Overlay Unit to gain control of one of the opponent's Level 4 or lower monsters until the end of the turn. Ukyo takes control of "Gogogo Golem" and uses it to attack "Gagaga Magician", lowering Yuma's Life Points to 3200.

Akari has managed to access the program hosting the virus bomb, but hasn't found the activation switch yet. She then comes across a labyrinth and she understands that what she must do is find the switch in the maze under a time limit of twenty-five minutes. Ukyo talks about his perfect Dueling and how perfection is everything, causing Yuma to hurt on the inside for that wasn't the teacher he used to praise so much. Astral asks Yuma where it's hurting exactly and Yuma says it's in his heart. Astral tells his observation nº 5: "Humans feel pain in their hearts.". Yuma says that, in summary, he understands the pain he feels. Takashi explains to Yuma that "to summarize" is the end of a sentence that finishes a whole subject, like an absolute end and that Yuma didn't use the expression correctly. Yuma says he can use it whenever he wants. Ukyo just laughs and says that, to summarize, an idiot like Yuma can't possibly hope to defeat him.

Yuma Tsukumo vs. Takashi Todoroki
Duel is shown from an unspecified turn.

Yuma has nothing on his field and 100 Life Points, while Takashi has "Crashbug X" (0/2000), "Crashbug Y" (1400/1600), and "Crashbug" (100/100), all in Attack Position.

Takashi's turn

"Crashbug X" attacks directly (Yuma 100 → 0)

Yuma Tsukumo vs. Ukyo Kitano
Turn 1: Ukyo  Professor Ukyo Sets a monster.

Turn 2: Yuma  Yuma Normal Summons "Gagaga Magician" (1500/1000) in Attack Position and attacks Ukyo's Set monster. It is "Crashbug X" (0/2000), so Yuma loses 500 Life Points (Yuma 4000 → 3500).

Turn 3: Ukyo  Ukyo Normal Summons "Crashbug Y" (1400/1600) in Attack Position and then activates "Crashbug Road", letting both players Special Summon a Level 4 monster from their hands. Yuma's hand contains "Asleep at the Switch", "Gogogo Golem", "Ganbara Knight", "Thunder Short" and "Zubaba Knight". Ukyo Special Summons "Crashbug Z" (0/1500) in Attack Position, while Yuma does the same with "Gogogo Golem" (1800/1500). Ukyo overlays his three monsters to Xyz Summon "Number 34: Terror-Byte" (0/2900) in Defense Position. Ukyo uses the effect of "Terror-Byte", detaching the overlaid "Crashbug Y" to take control of "Gogogo Golem". "Gogogo Golem" attacks and destroys "Gagaga Magician" (Yuma 3500 → 3200).

Duel continues in the next episode.

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

Mistakes
-In the episode preview, "Number 34: Terror-Byte" has Level 3 displayed instead of Rank 3, and its DEF is displayed as 2800 instead of 2900. These mistakes are corrected when the episode aired.

-When Akari grabs the fish, and starts devouring it, she's not wearing her bracelet, but in the next image of her, she is.