"Well if that wasn't the most humiliating moment of my life!" Exveemon snapped once his gag was taken off.
They were back in the interrogation room. Exveemon had been re-shackled, re-gagged, and re-blindfolded by some Etemon, who then carried him through the crowd of laughing Gazimon (which was still ringing in his ears) only to be unceremoniously dumped on the floor.
"Oh, surely you've experienced worse," Metaletemon argued, sitting cross-legged in front of him.
"Hm, no, that was the worst," the dragon-digimon shot back. His ankles weren't shackled together anymore, nor was he blindfolded, but his arms were still pinned behind his back. "You see? I told you you'd just proclaim yourself the winner!"
"But it was a fair fight," the android-digimon obected. "You actually had a chance to win, you have a lovely singing voice. Its just that mine is lovelier. And besides, it was obvious by the fact that I got a better reception from the audience that I won."
"That's different, they're your soldiers! They'd clap and cheer for you even if you were the worst singer in all the digital world!"
"If that were true, then they wouldn't have clapped for you, nor would they have been silent when they were. They were stunned because you were better than they expected. Much better. In fact, I think you should pursue a career in singing. You'd be very good at it."
Exveemon blinked. He hadn't expected that. "You... you really think so?"
"I know so! In fact, I was thinking that, if you're interested, I could get you to be my co-singer in my band."
Immediately the champion digimon caught on. "And what would I have to do to gain that? Betray the Rebels? I don't think so. They may not have treated me very seriously, but at least they never did to me what you did to me!"
Metaletemon looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "They didn't treat you very seriously? What do you mean by that?"
Exveemon heaved a rough sigh before replying, "Oh, I'm not what you'd call a responsible soldier, as you've probably already guessed by the fact that I got myself left behind. So whenever they'd go on missions against you, they'd leave me behind at the base. This was my first mission, actually."
"Really? Do go on."
"What else is there? Besides, if I do go on, I'm liable to talk a little too much."
"Whatever," the ultimate digimon said gruffly, getting up. "I don't want to get into all that again. I'm hungry, that song of yours put me in the mood for chocolate. I think I'll order a nice big fat banana sundae. How about you?"
"You know," Exveemon answered, a slow grin beginning to form on his face. "You can create Etemon by just willing them into existance, right? Well, I have a similar power."
Metaletemon stared down at the dragon-digimon. "You what?"
"I can make chocolate appear out of thin air, just like you do with Etemon!"
The android-digimon shook his head. "You can not."
"I can too! Watch, untie my arms and I'll prove it."
Metaletemon considered Exveemon for a moment before the cuffs fell from the champion's wrists.
"Ahh, thank you!" Exveemon rubbed the feeling back into his wrists.
The ulitmate digimon squatted down in front of him. "Well? I'm waiting."
Smiling, the dragon-digimon made a few elaborate gestures with his hands before producing four bars of chocolate.
Metaletemon gaped. "How'd you do that?" he demanded suspiciously.
"Beats me, I've always been able to do that," Exveemon answered, unwrapping one of the bars and taking a big bite. "Mmm-MM! I suppose its a gift to a great chocolate lover. Care for a piece?"
"Thanks, but I still want that banana split. Hold on..."
Minutes later the two of them were sitting amongst a sea of chocolate bar wrappers that either had chocolate bars in them or did not have chocolate bars in them, and ice cream bowls that either had ice cream and bananas in them or did not have ice cream and bananas in them.
"Oh yeah," Exveemon said, licking his fingers. "Chocolates' the best. I could eat it all day."
"Make sure you don't get fat," chuckled Metaletemon, finishing off his fourth banana split and reaching for a fifth.
"Look who's talking," shot back the dragon-digimon, breaking off small pieces of a chocolate bar and tossing them into his mouth.
"I don't need to worry about that, I'm a Chrome Digizoid-covered mega. The only thing I have to worry about is getting syrup all over me."
"Uh huh. Well I don't have to worry about weight gain, either. I always manage to snap back into place, no matter how much chocolate I consume. Heh, once I swallowed a five-foot chocolate egg on a bet, and still managed to bounce back."
The spoon that was on its way back into Metaletemon's mouth paused. "You actually ate all that?"
"Mm-hmm. Mmmm! Mmmmrrch!"
Soon all of the candy wrappers and ice cream bowls were empty, and they were all surrounding Metaletemon and Exveemon, who lay on the ground with their feet at opposite walls but with their heads level with one another.
"Oh, boy, that filled me up," said Exveemon, rubbing his belly.
"I haven't snacked out like that in a long time," Metaletemon murmured. "And now I know why. It makes me sleepy."
"Too bad this didn't happen on a beach. I love laying out in the sun after a good chocolate rush."
"Y'know, we both could, if you'd just tell me at least one little secret about the Rebels..."
"'Fraid I can't, bud. Tempting as that may be, I can't. Sorry."
Metaletemon sighed. "I like being a king. I really do. But sometimes I'd love to just get out and go for a nice swing in the trees, or a have a good swim in a lake, or just lay out in the sun, like you said."
"Well, why don't you?"
"Because of those blasted rebels, that's why! They're always hounding me, always trying to get me to relinquish my control on the Digiworld, so I'm forced to stay up in the Palace all day! That's where they can't get at me with their stupid nagging and speeches and whatnot."
"They only do that because you gained your kingship through dishonest means."
"I already told you why I did it."
"I know, I know... but do you have to have your Black Network going around and controlling all the computers and such?"
"Well, how else can I establish my kingship?"
"I think you can do that without forcing everyone to go along with your ways. And what about your soldiers? They always go around bullying everyone and disturbing the peace in the villages. Maybe if you got them to lay off..."
"Well, I guess I see your point there. Creatures like the Rebels do get fired up when peaceful little villages get pushed around. And if the Rebels weren't so fired up..."
"And then there's your taxes and the way how those who can't pay are sent to the prison camp! I mean, do the taxes really need to be that high? Think about it, if you lowered the taxes to a more reasonable price, you'd be able to release the digimon in the prison camps and the Rebels wouldn't have any quarrel with you."
Metaletemon stared at the ceiling for a long time before slowly turning his head to look at Exveemon.
"Are we compromising?"
Exveemon turned his own head towards the other digimon. "What?"
"Compromising; I just realized. What I want is to be king and to not have the Rebels oppose me any more. You don't want to betray the Rebels. So, if I... 'improved', for lack of a better term, my performance as King of the Digital World, then the Rebels would back off, and you could stay loyal to them."
The champion digimon's red eyes widened. He looked rather worried. "And it was you who realized that!"
Metaletemon also looked worried. "I know, I'm weirded out too."