Ai

Ai's History

Ai was created by Dr. Kogami, the scientist who created the Ignis.[8] The Ignis were developed by watching the six test subjects Duel, with Ai modeled after Yusaku Fujiki.[9] Eventually, Ai and the other Ignis evolved and created the Cyberse World, as well as the Cyberse monsters. Their progress worried Dr. Kogami who created Ignis to help humanity, and predicted through his simulations that the AI and humanity would become enemies.[2] Despite this, Ai and the other Ignis continued to create their world, each with a sector based on themselves. In Ai's words, the Ignis would never try to harm humanity, and would rather live in their own world.[6] However, the simulations showed that, in a group, the Ignis would destroy the world, but separately, they'd improve humanity through coexistence. The exception to this was Lightning, who was predicted to demolish others' progress and start a war between the Ignis and humanity.[10]

Ai was a laid-back Ignis,[3] and didn't do his job as the other Ignis did, which made him less-liked by his kin.[6] Aqua once even threw Ai and Linkuriboh to the ground for slacking off.[11] One day, Ai was fooling around the water domain with Linkuriboh. Aqua warned Ai not to be playing around, since it was dangerous. Ai didn't mind, but it nearly hurt himself when it fell down a waterfall. Aqua scolded Ai, reminding it should behave like an Ignis. Earth becames jealous, and demanded of Ai to stay away from Aqua, as he'd protect the latter.[12] Ai, unlike other Ignis, had a human's instinct. Due to his rebellious behavior, Lightning observed him, believing that would inspire the other Ignis to evolve.[13]

Ai about to get crunched by "Cracking Dragon".

Five years prior to the start of the series, the Knights of Hanoi launched an attack against the Cyberse World and captured the Ignis protecting it, except for Ai who wasn't present. Ai arrived, noting that it was a good time to be hated by his own kind. He stole vital information from the Cyberse and hid it within himself, disconnecting it from the rest of the network which forced Hanoi to stop the attack before he was crushed by a "Cracking Dragon" (in the dub, this scene was replaced by the flash of data). However, his eye survived. Ever since, he had been running from both the Knights and SOL Technologies.[1] At some point, Ai started following Yusaku and Kolter, influencing them to work together and placing hints about a Cyberse Deck for Playmaker, thus turning him into the ultimate weapon against the