(A/N: This chapter is very different from the others, so I better say this right now. There's going to be a "game" that will take place in this chapter, and we all know how Love Machine loves games. I'll explain more about it at the end of the chapter in the Author's Note.)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 9: Gennai's Bet
Love Machine roared his victory to the sky. Towering over the fallen Digimon Sovereigns, he looked very much like a demonic godly being with his dark form, white wings, and glowing halo on his back. Having defeated all four Digimon Sovereigns, he may very well be on his way to such a status.
As the A.I.'s hand stretched out to the Sovereigns, Patamon leapt out of TK's arms.
"Patamon, wait!" the boy cried.
"I can't, TK!" Patamon called back as he flew towards Love Machine. "Someone's got to do something!"
He got as close as he dared to the A.I. before inflating and firing a Boom Bubble. The bubble of air flew towards the giant and burst against him. It did no visible damage, but the towering form of Love Machine turned towards the little Digimon, and Patamon suddenly felt very foolish.
Cocking his head to the side, Love Machine considered him for a few seconds before copying his attack, spiting out a much larger burst of air. It was impossible for Patamon to avoid the giant bubble of air, and it blasted him backwards and down to the ground. He crashed through a treetop and landed in a bush.
"Patamon!" TK cried, rushing over to his friend. He searched through the bushes, finding the small orange Digimon with dizzy swirls in his eyes. "Patamon, are you ok?"
The Rookie Digimon looked up at him. "Sorry, TK, I tried."
He gave him a smile. "I know you did, and you did good."
"Yeah," Upamon agreed, "but now we have another problem."
The towering form of Love Machine was now looming over them. Growling at them, he stretched out his arms and curled them into circles, preparing to fire two of Azulongmon's Aurora Force attacks at once. At the same time, energy for Baihumon's Bronze Cannon gathered in his mouth as fireballs for Zhuqiaomon's Desolation Blast appeared on his wings. The avatars then reshaped themselves to form a giant gun protruding from his chest to launch Imperialdramon's Giga Crusher as well.
With at least five immensely powerful attacks about to be fired at them, the DigiDestined cringed together.
"Well," Davis muttered, "it's been nice knowing you guys."
Yolei suddenly grabbed Ken, holding his head closely to her chest in a tight hug. "Ken, I've always loved you!"
TK and Kari exchanged looks, their eyes speaking volumes of things left unsaid. Their hands reached out for each other, fingers interlocking as they held onto each other and their Digimon.
The circles Love Machine's arms formed filled with energy as more gathered at the end of the gun on his chest and in his mouth and wings. It had been a fun game while it lasted, and they had put up a good fight, but it looked like this was his victory.
"You're not going to end things just yet, are you?"
The question got Love Machine's attention, and he turned to the speaker. Flying in the air beside him was a Digimon known as Hippogriffomon, and riding on its back, the one that had spoken, was Gennai.
"Because if you end it now," he continued, "you won't get to have any more fun later."
Love Machine regarded him curiously for a bit before stopping his attacks. Gennai smiled and gave him a thumbs up.
"There's a good sport."
He redirected the Hippogriffomon to take him down, and they flew over towards the DigiDestined. When flying over them, he jumped off the Hippogriffomon's back and landed beside them.
"Hey, there," he greeted, as if their lives weren't in danger, "how's it going?"
"Gennai, what are you doing here?" Cody asked.
He smiled and winked at them. "I'm here to help. Izzy and I found out a lot about our friend Love Machine, and we now know his weakness."
"Great," said Davis, "that come in handy right about now. So what's his weakness?"
"He likes to play games."
The statement was met with silence. The hope that the DigiDestined had been feeling came crashing down. They thought that his news would be a bit more… well, helpful than that.
"Um… what?" Yolei muttered.
"He can't resist playing games," Gennai explained, "and he's very competitive."
"How's that supposed to help us?" Davis practically wailed.
"It's how he was defeated in the world he came from," Gennai told him. "Do you trust me?" When he received hesitant nods, he held out his hand. "Ok, then I'll need to borrow you D-Terminals."
Yolei cut her eyes at him and adjusted her glasses. "What for?" she asked suspiciously.
Gennai just smiled. "I need to catch Love Machine's interest."
Looking uncertain, they handed over their devices. Gennai thanked them and turned his attention to Love Machine.
"You've accumulated a lot of data, my friend," he told the A.I. "But some things you cannot obtain by force." He pressed a button on each of the D-Terminals, and images of each Digimental contained in the devices appeared. "These are called Digimentals. They're special Digi-Eggs with incredible power that allow Digimon to Armor Digivolve. However, they can only be obtained by the ones they were meant for, unless otherwise given away. So how about we make a little wager. We'll play a game, and if I win, you let us all go, but if you win, you can have the Digimentals."
"What?" Yolai cried.
"Gennai, no!" said Gatomon.
Aside from holding up a hand to silence them, Gennai ignored their cries of protest. "Furthermore, you can also eat me. I know you've been eating Digimon and Digi-Eggs to absorb data in order to upgrade yourself. Well, here's a rare opportunity for you. I'm a digital life form that's different from Digimon, and the Digimentals are incredibly rare items whose data you won't be able to forcibly obtain. You can have all this if you beat me. But if you lose, you let my friends, the Sovereigns, and I go free. And its not like you'll never get another chance to get us again. We'll simply come back for a rematch later, only we'll be even stronger than before, so we can provide you with an even better challenge. What do you say? Either way, you'll get something out of it, some rare data if you win, or the promise of a more formidable challenge later if you lose. Sounds good, don't you think?"
Love Machine seemed to consider Gennai's offer, and his head slowly bobbed into a nod, bringing a smile to Gennai's face.
"Very well then, we have a bet."
A tap on his shoulder drew his attention to TK. "Hey, um, Gennai, what exactly are you trying to do?"
Gennai just winked. "Don't worry. Just stand back and let me handle this."
Placing the tips of his thumb and index finger against his lips, he whistled loudly. A few seconds passed, and then eight Digimon flew down from the sky. They all looked alike, though they were of various sizes. With large eyes, four of them consisted of color patterns of yellow and white, three of blue and white, and one of black and white. They also each had what appeared to be one to four blank cards floating around their bodies, the more cards they had, the larger their round bodies.
Davis blinked at the strange creatures. "Um, Gennai, what are those?"
Gennai held out his hand, and the smallest of the yellow and white ones with a single card spinning around over its head floated into his palm. "These are Cardmon. They're a very unique species of Digimon."
"If they're all called Cardmon, why do they all look different from each other?" Cody asked.
"Because they're different levels and different types. The yellow and white ones are land based, and the blue and white ones and the black and white one are water based."
One of the blue Cardmon, the one with two cards hovering below its round body like flippers, flew over to them. "The reason we're different, even though we're the same species is because we're different levels."
"Yes," said the black one. "I'm at the Ultimate level, and for the others, the ones with one card are at the Rookie level, two are at the Champion, three the Ultimate, and four the Mega."
They all looked at the eight different Cardmon. "Then shouldn't your names change with your levels?" Davis asked.
"There are a select few Digimon whose names don't change when they Digivolve," Gennai explained. "Arukadhimon, Lucemon, and Gizumon are like that to; they're names stay the same even when they Digivolve." He looked at the Cardmon. "But these guys also have a rather interesting power that will be of use here. Ready, guys?"
"Ready!" the Cardmon cried.
The cards on their bodies began glowing. From out of thin air, cards began materializing. They were similar to the ones on their bodies, only they weren't blank, and they were handheld sized. From what the DigiDestined could see, there were pictures of different Digimon on the cards.
When the last card materialized, they all came together to form a deck. The deck shuffled and cut itself several times before splitting into two individual decks that floated into Gennai's hands.
"Thank you, my friends," he said, taking the two decks of cards. "That will be all."
"Good luck!" the Cardmon chorused.
They turned to Love Machine and stuck their tongues out at him before flying away. Gennai smiled as he watched them go before turning back to Love Machine and holding up the decks.
"We'll play a card game; Digimon Card Battle. The best of three games wins. And just so you know it's fair, I'll even let you choose the deck. Do you need me to explain the rules?"
Love Machine grumbled. From his body, a single avatar floated away from the whole. As it approached, the shadow lifted from it, and the others saw that it was a humanoid white rabbit wearing a red jacket and dark blue pants. Unknowingly to them, they were staring at a copy of the avatar for King Kazma.
Landing across from Gennai, the avatar held out its hand, and the deck in Gennai's right hand floated over to it.
"I'll take that as a no," Gennai replied.
The DigiDestined looked on as the game got underway.
"So that's what Gennai's doing," Kari noted. "He's trying to use Love Machine's gaming addiction to give us a chance later."
"But what's this card battle?" Davis asked. "I've never heard of it."
"It's a game that was developed in the Digital World," Gatomon explained. "A single game consists of two rounds. First they'll choose to see who goes first. This is the Start Phase."
Right on cue, two cards drifted into the air, facedown. Love Machine pointed to the card on the left, which flipped over to reveal a small dark purple Digimon. The other one flipped over to reveal a small white Digimon.
"He chose the Impmon card," said Gatomon. "If he had chosen the Calumon card, he would have gotten to go first, but since he didn't, Gennai gets to go first."
"Well, that's good," Kari replied.
"Actually," said Patamon, "it's a better advantage if your opponent goes first. You'll see why in a minute. Next comes the Draw Phase where they draw six cards from their decks."
Gennai and Love Machine went along as Patamon spoke, drawing their six cards.
"So now what?" Davis asked. "Do they just send out Digimon to battle?"
In his arms, Chibomon shook his head. "It's not that simple. You can't just summon Digimon. You'll need a certain number of S-Energies."
"Ok, what are those?"
Chibomon nodded in Gennai's direction. "Look at Gennai's hand. You'll see that each Digimon card has a colored border depending on what type it is. There are six different colors, white, blue, green, red, black, and brown. You get an S-Energy point for each color."
They looked at Gennai's Hand. He had two Digimon cards, a Greymon, and a Devimon. The Greymon card had a red border, and the Devimon card had a black border.
"So that means Gennai gets one red S-Energy and one black S-Energy?" Yolei asked.
"Right," Poromon confirmed. "You need those S-Energies to summon Digimon depending on their colored border. Rookies you can summon without any S-Energies. Champions require one, Ultimates need two, and Megas need three. Unless they have a brown border; those don't need S-Energies to summon."
"Got it," said Davis. "So since he has one red S-Energy and one black one, he can play both his Greymon card and his Devimon card. But if one of them had been an Ultimate or a Mega, he wouldn't have been able to play it because he didn't have enough S-Energies, right?"
"You got it," Chibomon told him. "But that part comes later. After the Draw Phase comes the Load Phase. This is when they use their Program cards. Look, Love Machine is playing one."
"Yes," said Gennai, looking at the card, "that's the Program card, Rusty Dust. This allows him to send one of my brown-bordered Digimon to the Trash if I have any. Unfortunately, my friend, I do not. Would you care to play another card?"
The rabbit avatar simply shook its head. Gennai just shrugged. "Very well then, I'll pass as well. Lets move on, shall we?"
"That means the Summon Phase begins," Leafmon explained. "This is when they use their S-Energies to summon their Digimon."
"Indeed," Gennai agreed. "And since I have both a red and a black S-Energy, I will summon both Greymon and Devimon."
"Any additional unused S-Energies are saved for the next round," Leafmon continued as Gennai placed the two cards down. The Greymon card possessed an AP and HP of 20, and the Devimon card had one of 19 and 18. Love Machine's hand, however, was slightly more impressive. He possessed two Greymon and a Grizzlymon, the latter possessing an AP/HP of 15/15.
"Uh, oh, that's not good," said Upamon. "Love Machine's got a higher score."
"Higher score?" Cody asked.
"After you summon your Digimon, the AP and HP of all the ones on your side of the field are added together for an overall total."
Ken quickly did the math. "So Gennai's total AP is 39, and his HP is 38. Love Machine's is 55/55. Does that mean he lost?"
Leafmon shook his head. "No, not yet. Now comes the Compile Phase. This is when you use your remaining Program cards to power up your Digimon or weaken your opponents'. Watch."
Love Machine waved his hand, indicating that he was passing.
Gennai nodded. "Very well, I'll play the Program card Eclipse Undo. This allows me to send one of my opponent's Digimon back to their hand. So, Love Machine, please take back one of your Greymon."
Love Machine grumbled as he picked up a Greymon card, dropping his total to 35/35. He growled and played a card from his own hand.
"Ah, Assault Armor," said Gennai. "That raises one of his Digimon's AP by 10. I see you're using it on your remaining Greymon." Love Machine's total rose to 45/35, but Gennai didn't seem bothered by this as the A.I. gestured that he would pass.
"Not bad, but I've got something a little better. I play Gold Aura. This allows me to add an additional 10 AP and HP to all my Digimon, raising my total to 49/48. But, just to be safe, I'll also play Chaos Virus. This allows me to send one of my opponent's non-black Digimon to the Trash, and I think I'll use it on your Greymon."
The avatar's eyes narrowed as it discarded the Greymon, dropping Love Machine's total to 15/15.
"And now, just to be sure, I'll play a second Eclipse Undo and send your Grizzlymon back to your Hand as well. And with that, I'll pass."
With no Digimon on the Field, this dropped the total of both Love Machine AP and HP to 0.
"All right!" Patamon cheered. "Now the Battle Phase starts."
"Battle Phase?" TK asked.
"The total of Love Machine's AP would be deducted from the total of Gennai's HP, and vice versa. But since Love Machine has no Digimon, Gennai wins the round by default."
The young man nodded at Love Machine as they both put all their cards in the Trash pile. "Ready for round two?"
Love Machine just growled as the two starting cards were produced, and he chose the one on the left, once again selecting the Impmon card. They drew their cards, and the Load Phase began. The DigiDestined could only see Gennai's Hand, and based on the borders of the Digimon he held, his S-Energy score was two red, one black, and one green.
"Ok, I'll play this," said Gennai. "Charge Terminal. This allows me to draw two more cards."
Love Machine then played the same card, drawing two more from his own deck. Gennai then followed up by playing Vicious Hacking. This not only allowed him to look at Love Machine's Hand, but also select one of his cards to send to the Trash.
The A.I. reluctantly showed Gennai his Hand. He saw that Love Machine held two Devimon cards, and chose one to send to the Trash. Love Machine did so without complaint, and decided to pass. With nothing else he could do, Gennai passed as well, and the Summon Phase began.
With the addition of the two cards Gennai drew, he summoned the Digimon Dinohumon 15/15, Kabuterimon 14/16, two Greymon 20/20 each, and Gesomon 11/8, for a total score of 70/79. Love Machine played only a single Devimon for a total of 19/18.
"All right!" Davis cheered. "Gennai's got this round in the bag!"
"Don't be so sure," TK warned. "Remember how quickly the tables were turned last round."
TK's words proved to be true as the Compile Phase began, and Love Machine played Protect Armor, adding an additional 10 HP to his Devimon for a total of 19/28. But Gennai followed up with by playing another Gold Aura, bringing his total to 130/129 before passing.
Love Machine then played the card Berserk Energy. This increased one of Gennai's Digimon's AP by 10 but reduced its HP by the same amount. He chose to use it on Gennai's Gesomon, changing its already altered score of 21/18 to 31/8, leaving him with a total of 140/119.
"Didn't that help him?" Cody asked.
"Shh," Yolei shushed him. "Lets just see what he's planning."
Love Machine then played the card Summon Devimon, allowing him to do just that. With two Devimon on the Field, his total rose to 38/46. Unfortunately for him, there was nothing else he could do, and the A.I. was forced to pass. With the obvious higher total, Gennai claimed victory for the second round.
"Sweet!" Davis cried. "I told you he had it in the bag!"
"Does that mean he won?" Kari asked. "He won two out of three."
But Gatomon shook her head. "A single game is the best of three rounds, but Gennai said the best of three games. He only won the first. We've still got two more to go."
"Unless he wins the next game as well," Ken pointed out.
The two players mixed the cards in their Trash piles with their decks and shuffled before beginning the second game. This time, Love Machine selected the Calumon card, allowing him to go first. However, he chose to pass for the Load Phase.
"Very well," said Gennai, "then I'll play the Program card Vicious Hacking. I assume you remember what this does."
The DigiDestined grinned as they remembered the card's affect, but Love Machine responded by playing the card Freeze Bug.
"What's that do?" Cody asked.
"It sends a just played or drawn card to the Trash," Upamon told him.
Gennai just shrugged as his Vicious Hacking was countered, placing it in the Trash. He then played another card called Green Force, increasing his green S-Energy by two, and from the looks of his Hand, he needed it.
When the two played their Digimon cards, Gennai set down two Etemon cards, with an AP/HP score of 25/25 each. The DigiDestined were feeling confident with his Hand until they saw what Love Machine had. Apparently, he had been fortunate enough to draw several brown-bordered Digimon, and powerful ones at that. They consisted of BlackImperialdramon 50/40, BlackMegaGargomon 47/37, Boltmon 39/32, and Shakkoumon 32/34, giving him a total of 168/143 to Gennai's 50/50
The DigiDestined stared blankly at Love Machine's cards before Davis cried out, "No way! He's cheating! How could he get a Hand like that?"
But Gennai just shook his head. "There was no cheating Davis. It was just the luck of the draw. But don't count me out just yet. We still have the Compile Phase."
As Love Machine chose to pass, Gennai played Charge Terminal, letting him draw two more cards. He then played the card Control Parts, allowing him to steal one of Love Machine's Digimon, and he selected the strongest, BlackImperialdramon. This left the A.I. with a total of 118/103, and Gennai with 100/90.
"You see," he said, "the tide of battle can change very quickly." He looked at his Hand and sighed. "Unfortunately, there's nothing else I can do, so I'll have to pass."
The Battle Phase played out, reducing Gennai's HP to nothing while Love Machine still had a total of 3 HP left. The round went to Love Machine.
"Uh oh," Leafmon muttered.
"Don't worry," said Chibomon, "that was just the first round. As long as he doesn't win the next, we still have a chance."
For the second round, Love Machine ended up choosing Calumon again, but still chose to pass. Gennai selected a card from his Hand and laid it down. It was Charge Terminal again, and he drew two cards. He then followed up with another Green Force, earning him two more green S-Energies.
When the Summon Phase started, luck proved to be on Love Machine's side again as he ended up with four more powerful brown-bordered Digimon. This time they consisted of BlackWarGreymon 60/55, BlackKingNumemon 43/30, and two Shakkoumon 32/34, for a total of 167/153. Gennai's Hand was better than last time, but still more modest. His Digimon consisted of KingEtemon 38/35, MetalEtemon 35/35, and Etemon 25/25, for a total of 98/95.
"That's ok, Gennai!" Kari cheered. "We have faith in you!"
He winked at them as he played Gold Aura, increasing his total score to 128/125. But Love Machine shook his head and played the same card, increasing his total to 207/193.
"Cheater!" Davis shouted.
Love Machine glanced at him before playing another card called Fire Cannon.
"Ooh, not good," said Poromon. "That reduces a Digimon's HP by 30."
And Love Machine targeted Gennai's Etemon, reducing its total to 35/5, and Gennai's total to 128/95.
"Good thing he rose its power already," Poromon continued. "If Etemon's HP had reached zero, it would have gone to the Trash."
Gennai just waved to them. "Don't worry, turnabout is fair play. I've got a Fire Rocket too, so I'll bring one of his Shakkoumon down from 42/44 to 42/14."
Kari looked at their scores as the Battle Phase began. "It's still not enough though."
They watched as the result of the battle brought Gennai's HP to 0 and left Love Machine's at 35. Having won both rounds, Love Machine claimed the win. That left both players with one win each.
"The next game will decide the winner," said Yolei. "If Gennai doesn't win, then we're finished."
But Davis didn't look worried. "Have a little faith. Gennai will wipe the floor with this guy; just you wait and see."
The third and last game began. This time Love Machine drew Impmon, and so Gennai went first, but both players decided to pass on the Load Phase and jump straight into the Summon Phase. When the Phase ended, Love Machine's Field contained Dinohumon 15/15, Kabuterimon 14/16, and Greymon for a total of 49/51. Gennai's Digimon consisted of Frigimon 12/13, Renamon 4/4, and two Gomamon 2/3, for a total of 20/23.
"Bad start," said Gatomon. "Lets hope the Compile Phase changes things."
Gennai ended up playing the card Summon Gomamon, allowing him to bring another to the field. He then played a second one, giving him a total of four Gomamon on the Field for a total of 24/29.
"He did it!" Patamon cried. "He got a combo!"
The DigiDestined glanced at him as TK asked, "What's a combo?"
"When you have four or more of the same Digimon on the field, you get the combination of their AP and HP, plus their current score, added to your both your AP and HP total in addition to what you already have."
Kari looked at the Gomamon. So 2 times 4 for the AP is 8, plus 3 times 4 for the HP is 12. That makes 20. And 20 plus 8, and 20 plus 12 would be an additional 28/32 to his total!"
With the combo bonus, Gennai's score rose to 52/61. But it was then that Love Machine played the card Chaos Virus, and he used this to send Gennai's Frigimon to the Trash, reducing his total to 20/28. He then followed up with the card Eclipse Undo to send Gennai's Renamon back to his hand, reducing his total even further to 16/24. He then ended with a Gold Aura, increasing the AP and HP of each of his Digimon by 10 for a total score of 79/81. Thus, when the Battle Phase began, it was Love Machine that received the victory point.
"Ok, ok," said Davis, "we still have a chance. You got this Gennai!"
This time Love Machine chose Calumon, but they both ended up passing over the Load Phase again. And once the Summoning Phase passed, it did not look good for Gennai. His Field had Kyubimon 15/16, Devimon 19/18, and Gesomon 11/8, for a total of 45/42. Love Machine's Field contained two Hookmon 15/15, Shellmon 13/15, Ikakkumon 13/13, Kyubimon 15/16, and Monmon 5/5 for a total of 76/79. The result made the DigiDestined gulp nervously.
"There's still a chance," said Poromon. "Love Machine's Hand had all Digimon, that means Gennai can still win if he has good Program cards."
"And that I do," he told them. "First I'll play Chaos Virus to send his Kyubimon to the Trash."
Once Love Machine removed his Kyubimon, Gennai played his trump card.
"That's Flame Gatlin!" Gatomon cried happily.
Yolei looked at the card. "Um, ok, what's that do?"
"It delivers 15 damage to all Digimon on the Field!" Upamon cried, practically bouncing in Cody's arms.
Looking at Love Machine's Digimon, they saw that they all contained at most 15 HP. Even though Gennai's Gesomon had its HP reduced to zero, sending it to the Trash, all of Love Machine's Digimon had their HP brought to zero, they were all sent to the Trash, leaving Love Machine with no Digimon left and Gennai with a total of 34/4.
"Gennai wins this round by default!" Chibomon cheered. "Just one more and we win it all!"
"Yup," Davis agreed. "Keep your fingers crossed." He looked down at Chibomon, who consisted of only a head. "Or whatever you have."
The Start Phase began, and Love Machine selected Impmon, allowing Gennai to go first. He decided to pass on the Load Phase, and, after a moment's hesitation, so did Love Machine.
During the Summon Phase, Love Machine summoned Devimon 19/18, while Gennai brought forth Ogremon 14/12, Veemon 4/4, and Goblimon 1/2 for a total of 19/18.
Chibomon pouted slightly as he stared at the Veemon cared. "I'm stronger than that."
"It's tie," said TK, ignoring him. "What happens during a tie?"
"The one who got the Calumon card would win," Patamon told him. "But don't forget that there's still the Compile Phase. That's what will decide the match."
Smirking, Gennai placed down the Fire Cannon card. His target was the only Digimon Love Machine had, and the Devimon card was sent to the Trash, leaving the A.I. with no Digimon. But the avatar simply shook a finger at Gennai and played a Summon Devimon card, allowing him to bring a replacement Devimon to the field.
"Touché," Gennai told him, still smiling. "Guess I'll have to pass."
Love Machine stared at him for a few seconds before playing one final Program card. It was Eclipse Undo, and he used it to send Gennai's Ogremon back to his Hand. This brought Gennai's total scored down to 5/6 as Love Machine passed.
The Battle Phase passed, reducing Gennai's score to zero, and Love Machine claimed the victory for the match. He had now won two out of three games. Love Machine had won the bet.
The DigiDestined couldn't believe what they were seeing. Gennai had actually lost? But how could he lose? He'd been so confident. They had believed that he would win no matter what. They didn't think he would rig the decks, hide cards up his sleeves, or try any other methods of cheating, but they had been sure he would come out on top.
"He… He lost…?" Kari stammered.
"But… that's not how this was supposed to work!" Davis cried.
Yolei looked at them questioningly. "Does this mean that Love Machine is going to eat Gennai and the Digimentals?"
Her question remained unanswered as Gennai held up his hands in defeat. "Well, that's it, I guess he beat me."
The avatar made no show of its victory as it simply floated back towards Love Machine's main body and rejoined the others. The A.I. made a grumbling noise and loomed over Gennai expectantly.
"No!" Kari cried. "Gennai, get out of there!"
He turned to look at her, but, strangely enough, he was still smiling. "Not to worry. This was never about the card game." He looked back the A.I. "Sorry, Love Machine, but it looks like it's actually my win."
The A.I.'s eyes narrowed and it roared at him.
"The game wasn't the card battle," Gennai told him. "I took a gamble to buy time, and it paid off in the end. That was the real game, and you lost."
He pointed in the distance. Love Machine turned to see he was pointing at the Digimon Sovereigns. The four of them were floating in the air, Ebonwumon floating above Zhuqiaomon with Baihumon on their left and Azulongmon on their right, each on their proper latitude and longitude positions on the map.
Flying beside each Sovereign were various flying Digimon. Sitting on top of each Digimon was one of the duplicates Gennai had made of himself that had assisted the DigiDestined on their world tour quest to send the Digimon that had wondered into the Real World back to the Digital World. They were all in a meditative state, chanting as they poured their power into the Digimon Sovereigns.
Love Machine roared at them and began heading over to where they were. As he approached, the blue, red, green, and white auras surrounding the Sovereigns swirled around the four of them. The colors mixed together and turned a golden yellow. The forms of the Sovereigns were lost amongst the aura as it grew in intensity.
Something appeared within the aura, a massively large golden dragon Digimon that was over twice the size of Azulongmon. Eight red eyes glared at Love Machine as the dragon bared its fangs at him. Love Machine roared at the Digimon, watching as it opened its mouth, gathering energy within for a powerful attack.
"Taikyoku!" the giant Digimon bellowed, unleashing the energy in a powerful golden beam.
The attack tore through the air, seeming to rip through the very fabric of space and time itself. Love Machine roared as the massive beam struck him and erupted in an almighty blast that consumed everything in a blinding flash of golden light.
(A/N: Ok, allow me to explain. There was a game for the first PlayStation called Digimon World 3. Has anyone every played it? It's a lot of fun. You play as a Digimon Tamer that saves the Digital World from an evil conspiracy group. In the game, you can also collect Digimon cards and have card battles with other Digimon Tamers. This was the game that Gennai played with Love Machine in this chapter. I'll post the rules and list of cards as an extra chapter at the end of this story. But the game itself was actually meant to be a diversion from Gennai's copies saving the Sovereigns. And with Love Machine's inability to resist games and his competitive nature, he fell for it. I know it was a little Yu-Gi-Oh-ish, but I wanted to include it. The game was actually pretty difficult to write, so I used a few YouTube videos of Digimon World 3 card battles as a reference. As for that giant golden dragon Digimon that attacked him at the very end, that will be explained in the next chapter. But does this mean that Love Machine has been destroyed? You'll have to wait to find out.)
