In the wake of his recent fame after defeating The Sledgehammer and inventing an entire new form of summoning in the middle of a duel, Yuya gains a fan named Sylvio Sawatari. Sylvio invites Yuya to the LID Duel tower for a friendly duel to demonstrate Pendulum Summoning, only to steal Yuya's Pendulum cards and hold his friends hostage.
Yuya duels Sylvio, but his efforts fall flat when he has the bad luck to pull Action Traps from the field instead of Action Spells, letting Sylvio get an advantage. Then things go from bad to worse when Sylvio activates Yuya's Pendulum Monsters and reveals he knows how to Pendulum Summon. However, he isn't acting alone; a mysterious man at Leo Corporation is giving him instructions on how to use them.
This episode contains examples of:
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Sawatari, dueling example.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Sawatari acts like a nice guy to steal the Pendulum cards.
- Darker and Edgier: The first time we see how dangerous Action Duels can be; also doubles for the series as it is only 3 episodes in and already going for the darker plots.
- Heroic BSoD: Yuya has one when Sawatari Pendulum summons using his own cards.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Sawatari uses Yuya's tendency of using Action Cards against him by selecting a field of only Action Traps
- Jerkass: Sawatari besides robbing Yuya, he forces Yuzu and the kids into danger to force Yuya to duel him so he can test his new cards
- Magnetic Plot Device: Yuya's Pendulum cards
- Man Behind the Man: Reiji (Declan) is obviously calling the shots. The show even has an image of him playing the Pendulum cards when Sawatari plays them.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: While Sawatari is mocking Yuya and showing off, Reiji interrupts him to calmly instruct him on what moves to make.
- Snake Whip: Yuya spends the first few turns using Entermate Whip Viper (Performapal Whip Snake) to swing across the field quicker than he can move on foot.
