"Next, I target Patrol Robo and equip it with the Equip Spell Card Machine Modification Factory!"
A Normal Equip Spell Card exclusive to Machine-type monsters — with the magical enhancement, Patrol Robo's vehicle body suddenly shone brightly, as if it had just rolled out of the factory.
"According to its effect, Patrol Robo gains 300 Attack and Defense points!"
(Patrol Robo, Level 4, ATK/DEF: 1200 → 1500)
"Entering the Battle Phase!"
Yu Yè & the three onlookers: "!??"
Hearing Sho declare his Battle Phase and command Patrol Robo to attack Burstinatrix, everyone froze.
Wait, you're not activating Patrol Robo's effect?
Though no one knew why Sho wasn't activating its effect, the attack was already coming. If no set cards were activated before entering the damage step, Burstinatrix was about to get KO'd by a robot's punch!
"Trap Card Quick Chant activate! According to this card's effect, I discard one Normal Spell Card from my hand, and in exchange, treat it as though it were a Quick-Play Spell and activate it!"
As Yu Yè sent one of his remaining two hand cards to the Graveyard, the Quick Chant projection on the field instantly morphed into the discarded Normal Spell.
"Blazing Impact! Destroy all monsters on the field except Elemental HERO Burstinatrix!"
"Nani?!"
In Sho's stunned gaze, Burstinatrix hurled a fireball that easily slammed into Patrol Robo.
Boom!
Patrol Robo — destroyed!
"Also, for each monster destroyed by this effect, its controller takes 300 damage!"
(Sho Marufuji: 4000 LP → 3700 LP)
Looking at his now-empty field — back to square one at the start of his turn — and seeing his Life Points drop before Yu Yè's did, Sho looked completely crushed.
"I thought that was gonna be a cool play… but it turned out like this…"
Seeing Sho squatting on the ground, drawing circles, and shutting down emotionally, the three observers and Yu Yè all had sweat drops running down their foreheads.
"Sho Marufuji! When you play a Monster Card, do you not bother reading the card's effect text?!"
"I do read it!"
That one line snapped Sho back to life. He jumped up from the ground and loudly retorted at Yu Yè.
"If you read it, then why didn't you use Patrol Robo's effect before attacking?"
"W-Well, um…"
Seeing Sho stammer and fail to answer, Yu Yè continued:
"If I remember correctly, Patrol Robo's effect allows you — once per turn during your Main Phase — to reveal one of your opponent's face-down cards in the back row. That's a pretty powerful ability!"
"Even though I had three set cards in my back row and each had a one-in-three chance of being picked, if your luck had been good, you might've revealed a key card that would've decided the outcome!"
"SHUT UP!!"
Just as Yu Yè finished speaking, Sho exploded like a child throwing a tantrum, screaming toward Yu Yè in frustration.
"Don't think that just because I respectfully called you 'sensei' once, you're qualified to lecture me like you're my teacher!"
Yu Yè: "..."
"Sho! What's wrong with you?!"
Judai immediately ran down from the small hill and rushed to Sho's side, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him.
"…If you want to keep embarrassing your brother — and even drag your big bro Judai down during the upcoming tag duel in a few days — then we can just end this duel right now!"
Kids throwing tantrums was understandable, but when someone tries to help you out of goodwill and you lash out irrationally — even someone as good-natured as Yu Yè couldn't help but feel a surge of anger.
"If it weren't for that guy Ryo and Judai, do you think I, Yu Yè, would give up a peaceful school life just to tutor you? Don't kid yourself!"
"…I—I'm sorry!"
Realizing he'd gone from self-pity to blaming others, Sho instantly snapped out of it and did a full doge (kneeling bow) to apologize to Yu Yè. For someone as strong as Yu Yè to personally help someone as weak as him — anyone else would probably have treated Yu Yè with the utmost respect. But what did Sho do? He yelled at him.
"…If nothing else, then let's continue the duel."
As soon as he heard the duel was continuing, Judai patted Sho's shoulder and stepped back, returning to stand alongside Asuka and Hayato, who had come down at some point to continue spectating.
"My turn. Draw!"
Without asking if Sho had any set cards, Yu Yè drew straight from the top of his deck, indicating that the turn had passed to him.
(Yu Yè: Don't think I'm the type to let things go so easily ╭(╯^╰)╮)
Seeing the big chunky monster card he'd drawn and glancing at the Spell Card Polymerization in his left hand, Yu Yè didn't hesitate to summon the bulky monster.
"I summon Elemental HERO Clayman in Attack Position!"
Normally, he would fuse Clayman with Burstinatrix to Fusion Summon the Level 6 Elemental HERO Rampart Blaster but don't forget — during the previous Battle Phase, Yu Yè activated a Trap Card called Quick Chant.
Quick Chant – Normal Trap
Effect: Send 1 Normal Spell from your hand to the Graveyard; this card's effect becomes that Spell's effect. On your next turn, you cannot activate Spell Cards.
It was a card he got from Uncle Seto, so thanks to its lingering effect, Yu Yè couldn't activate Polymerization this turn.
"Both of you — attack directly!"
With Burstinatrix (ATK 1200) and Clayman (ATK 800) attacking together, they shaved off a total of 2000 Life Points from Sho.
(Sho Marufuji: 3700 LP → 1700 LP)
"I set one card face-down. Turn end."
He set Polymerization. If Sho has some spell/trap removal next turn, maybe Yu Yè could bait it out.
"My turn! Draw!"
'Alright! I drew a key card!'
With that thought, Sho placed the card he had just drawn into his monster zone.
"I summon Steamroid in Attack Position!"
Toot toooot~!
With the sound of a train whistle, a gray robot shaped like a steam locomotive appeared on Sho's field.
(Steamroid, Level 4, ATK/DEF: 1800)
"Steamroid, attack Yu Yè-sensei's Clayman!"
Toot toooot!
As the whistle blew, white steam poured from Steamroid's chimney, obscuring Clayman's view. At the same time, its rear wheels — not humanoid legs, but functioning all the same — revved up and charged straight toward Clayman.
"Steamroid's effect! When it attacks, during the Damage Step only, it gains 500 ATK!"
This time, Sho did remember to use the effect.
Now boasting an ATK of 2300 — just 100 points short of Uncle Jounouchi's ace Red-Eyes Black Dragon — Steamroid easily crushed the mere 800 ATK Clayman into a pile of broken rubble!
(Yu Yè: 4000 LP → 2500 LP)
"Sho! That was awesome!"
Seeing Yu Yè's Life Points drop, Judai immediately praised his younger brother. "As long as you believe in yourself, you can do it!" That's the key to winning a duel!
"At the end of the Battle Phase, I activate Polymerization from my hand! I fuse the Gyroid in my hand with the Steamroid on the field!"
"Fusion Summon — Steam Gyroid!"
The blue, humanoid, rotor-bladed Gyroid fused with the gray, train-like Steamroid, resulting in a half-standing robot. Its arms were shaped like rotor wings, taken from Gyroid, while its overall build retained the bulky body of Steamroid.
(Steam Gyroid, Level 6, ATK: 2200 / DEF: 1600)
While the HEROes require two Normal Monsters to fuse into one Effect Monster… for the Vehicroids, it's the opposite — two Effect Monsters fused into one vanilla monster.