Yuya decides to enter the Junior Youth Championship and become a professional duelist like his father, but learns he has no qualifications. Nico Smiley, dueling announcer and former manager of Strong Ishijima (The Sledgehammer), who has left the city to train overseas, offers Yuya the chance to enter the Junior Arc League Championship, saying he technically doesn't qualify but his victory over Sledgehammer is proof enough of his skill. Yuya refuses, as he wants to earn his way in instead of just getting a pass for that one victory. To qualify, Yuya needs a 60% win ratio out of at least 50 duels, and thus must duel and defeat four more duelists. Nico agrees to find him some suitable opponents.
Meanwhile, several Leo teachers have gone missing, prompting the trio of elite students, Hokuto, Masumi, and Yaiba, to investigate. Yuzu, frustrated over her loss to Masumi and failure to protect the school, asks Sora to train her to Fusion Summon so she can be a better duelist. Yuzu, Sora, and Masumi, encounter the Dark Duelist who looks like Yuya, but as with their first encounter, Yuzu's bracelet glows and he vanishes just as Yuya arrives. Masumi thinks Yuya is the Dark Duelist, but is distracted and led away before she can take action.
This episode contains examples of:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Yuzu, when she asks Sora to teach her how to Fusion Summon.
- Breather Episode: After an intense series of six-seven episodes concerning the You Show takeover arc, this episode has no duels and is much more relaxed, focusing on setting up the next few story arcs.
- Sequence Breaking: It's revealed this episode that The Sledgehammer has retired from dueling and has gone overseas to train, breaking the sequence from the first four series in which the rival that the protagonist defeated in the first episode (Kaiba, Crowler, Trudge, and Shark) had become a frenemy to the protagonist. In fact, The Sledgehammer does not have another speaking role for the rest of the series.
