Chapter 14: A Promise Kept

Jessica was standing in front of multiple leaders of the United Nations. Jessica and her 3 Digimon were standing in the United Nations General Assembly Hall. Leaders from all over the world were gathered hearing her testify about the recent events. Kinandon was also there to help her. Jessica was wearing a dark blue women's pants suit with a double breasted closure type, and a notched collar. On her feet were black high heels. Kinandon was also in a suit and was wearing an aquamarine tie. Each nation's leader took turns asking Jessica and Kinandon questions.

"Mrs. Glovion." The representative of the United States began, "Last week, we experienced something I never would have imagined we'd experience in a million years; our very first alien invasion. One of the MPs who arrested you took a sample of your hair and had it tested along with that of General Coral's. We found that your DNA is not human. You are of the same race as this species. Upon further investigation, we found that you have been living among us for the past 25 years under the guise that you're just as human as I am." Jessica nodded her head. "Yes, I am not human. I'm a member of an amphibious race called the Aqualians. I don't deny it." Jessica responded.

"Mrs. Glovion, is it true that you declared war on your own planet to drag Earth into a war?" The U.S representative asked in a prosecutorial tone. "No. That was someone else. She had used a device my people invented. It's a kind of shape shifting device. It completely morphs a person's body temporarily to look like anyone they want." Jessica responded. Kinandon butted in "I, Kinandon, King of Aqualia, confirmed her statement. In the course of recent events, I discovered this truth for myself. I myself pardoned Mrs. Glovion, or should I say that I declared her to be innocent of any crimes."

The Japanese representative asked, "What exactly are Aqualians?"

"We're an amphibious race. According to the top notch evolutionary biologists on my home planet, millions of years ago, we were primitive primates covered in fur from head to toe not unlike chimps and the Australopithecus you humans descended from. No one really knows why we developed the ability to live in water, but the current theory is that due to how few landmasses there are on the planet, whenever the mutations occurred that allowed us to grow gills and tails occurred, natural selection simply favored amphibious aqualians over non-amphibious ones. After all, Those with gills can breathe underwater and hunt more prey. And those with tails can swim faster than those who have legs, so those Aqualians who either didn't have gills, didn't have tails, or both were eventually weeded out of the gene pool." Jessica explained.

"It's also noteworthy that we've been to this planet many times peacefully, but we did so covertly. That's where your various myths and legends about mermaids came from. Your sailors weren't seeing manatees. They were seeing people from Aqualia." Kinandon said.

"Is it true that your kind dragged sailors to their deaths back then? Have you ever killed seafaring men, Mrs. Glovion?" The representative from India asked.

"I can't speak for mermaids who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago. And I don't know how much legend corrupted the facts about those mermaids who came to this planet. But what I can say is that I have not recently nor have I ever dragged a seafaring man to an aquatic death." Jessica said. Jessica smiled and then giggled a little. "And before you ask, I can't hold a tune in a bucket. I'm not a 'siren'. My singing would only drive men away!" Jessica joked. Everyone in the room laughed.

"Why did you keep your existence a secret so long from Earth? Why are we only now finding out about you?" The representative of Great Britain asked.

"The answer is quite simple. This planet is the only inhabited planet within lightyears. You could say Earth is the 'boondocks' of the universe. That's why other species in general don't come here very often. And when they have, they've kept themselves as secret as possible because….well…..you have had a tendency to be fearful of the unknown." Kinandon explained.

"I can vouch for that. Even though I've walked among you for many years, I've always been terrified of accidentally turning into a mermaid in front of other people. I was always terrified that some government officials would haul me off to some secret lab in the middle of nowhere to conduct experiments on me. At least, in the worse case scenario. The best case scenario is that I'd become an attraction at SeaWorld or some side show." Jessica said.

"And yet, when questioned, your husband said he knew about your identity for years. What was different about him?" The Mexico representative asked.

"When we went to the Digital World for the first time was when I told him. I felt empowered being surrounded by a bunch of other 'alien' Digidestined. Well, not just that. I trusted him and I had been wanting to tell him for a long time. I had known him for many years. We started out as good friends. I loved having a friend I didn't have to keep secrets from. Up until my late teen years, I was a bit tomboyish. I played sports and video games, I didn't mind getting sweaty and dirty, and my choice of clothing was never very feminine, so, Evander and I got along really well. I'd had a crush on him since day 1, but never told him until we were in our tweens." Jessica explained. Then she put her hand up to her mouth and a little bit of nervous laughter came out. "Oh! I'm sorry! I'm rambling now." Jessica said. "Anyway, the reason Evander knew was just that he happened to find out."

"You mentioned a theory of your evolution. You said initially, you were primates that grew to intelligent species like ourselves. Why are you so incredibly similar? Why don't you have 3 heads or 10 tentacles?" The representative of the United States asked.

"I was curious about this myself, so I looked it up a long time ago. Your own scientists are now catching on to an idea known as 'Process Structuralism'. Basically, although evolution is random to some extent, environmental pressures also have something to do with it. I'm not an expert in this, but the scientists I've read said that this accounts for how the same features can pop up over and over again even on creatures who are extremely far apart on the evolutionary tree, and that 'If other life exists, we wouldn't expect it to be vastly different than what we find on Earth'." Jessica explained.

"How do mermaids give birth?" The Japanese representative asked.

"We give birth the same way you do. Or, I guess it would be better to compare us to Dolphins. Most Aqualians live in the oceans of Aqualia most or all of the time, and thus, they give birth there as well. I think that's enough questions about my species. Now that whole planet knows about us, I plan on writing and publishing a book answering all of the questions I'm sure you have about us." Jessica responded.

Jessica did indeed want to move on beyond the game of Mermaid Trivia, but she had a second reason for not wanting to be questioned about mermaid reproduction. She and Evander had been trying for 10 years to conceive a child, and could not. Jessica wasn't sure if it was because they were of different species, or if she was just barren. She didn't like to think about it.

The questioning went on for hours. Jessica and Kinandon explained to them all about what had happened. They told them about Digimon and the existence of the Digital World, they told them about Kappamon impersonating Jessica in order to incite Kinandon against her, and that Jessica was actually a descendent of Sebastian Poseidon whom Earthlings once worshipped as a god, and that this was all a plan by Ophanimon Falldown Mode to extinguish all of life. Kinandon also apologized for attacking Earth and falling for Ophanimon FM's deceit. He promised to help advance Earth both technologically and medicinally as compensation for the unjust war. The United Nations agreed to this decision.

Later that night, Jessica and Evander walked out of the room with their Digimon. They walked out to a car she had rented while she and Evander stayed in the states. She bent down and took both shoes off. "Standing in high heels all day….ugh, I think I'd rather fight AncientMermaidmon and Ordinemon again before I do that again. Horrible decision." Jessica said. "I told you not to wear high heels, but you said you wanted to look your best in front of the UN." Evander said. Gabumon, Leormon, and Pawnchessmon walked behind her. "Boy, those guys sure had a lot of questions!" Leormon said. Jessica opened the back seat for her Digimon to crawl into. Evander sat in the front seat. Evander looked over to his wife. "You know, I have a feeling that Earth is going to undergo a radical change." He said. "Well, if Kinandon follows through, it will. More mermaids and mermen will come to live here, you'll have a technological big bang, and…who knows what else?" Jessica responded. Jessica turned the ignition key, put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking lot. "Now that we're back in my country, you could have let me drive, you know." Evander said.

Three weeks later….

Evander was sleeping in the bed of their apartment in Nakano, Japan. He heard a scream in the next room. Evander quickly woke up, ran towards the sound of that scream. It was Jessica's scream and it was coming from the bathroom. Evander opened the bathroom door. "What's wrong! What happened!?" He asked frantically. He found Jessica on her knees on the bathroom floor holding a pregnancy test stick in her hand. She was weeping and had a big smile on her face. Jessica held the stick up to Evander. "Don't tell me. Don't tell me." He said as a smile gradually grew larger and larger on his face. The Digimon weren't far behind them. They all slept in the apartment too in a second bedroom. "What was that screaming about?" Terriermon asked. Jessica got up off of the bathroom floor, looking like she was about to explode with joy. "I'm pregnant! I'm finally pregnant!" She said with glee. Evander and Jessica embraced each other and literally jumped for joy.

"Pregnant?" Gabumon said. It wasn't a word that existed in Digimon's vocabulary. "It means I'm going to have a baby! It means there's a baby in my tummy!" Jessica responded, her eyes sparkling with happiness. "How did a baby get inside your tummy? Did you eat it?" Agumon asked, tilting his head back and putting a single claw up to his chin. Jessica laughed. "No, Agumon. You could say this is my prize for…" She looked over at Evander and then back at Agumon. "...winning our last wrestling match." She finished. Evander blushed a little. The 6 Rookie level Digimon looked even more confused. "Prize?" said Terriermon. "I'm going to be a mother." Jessica said. They all started cheering. "Why didn't you tell us that in the first place!?" Terriermon asked in a joyful tone.

Later that evening, Jessica was doing a video chat with Zai, Flora, and Mario over the Digi-Worm phone. "Guys. We have big news. There is a bun in the oven!" Jessica said. Zai, Flora, and Mario all reacted simultaneously. "That's wonderful!" "Congratulations!" "I'm so happy for you!" Syn the BlackGatomon jumped up onto Zai's lap and said. "Buns? I'm hungry! Save me some!" She said. Zai sighed. "Syn. That's an Earth expression for conveying that a woman is pregnant." Zai explained to the little black cat Digimon.

"So, do you know if it's a boy or a girl?" Flora asked. Jessica shook her head. "We will find out soon enough. But we've picked out a name for both genders." Jessica responded. "What are the names?" Flora asked. "We'll name the baby Tanner if it's a boy, and Taylor if it's a girl." Jessica replied.

Two months later…

It was a Saturday morning. Evander walked into their apartment. He entered a room and saw Jessica typing away at their computer. "Working hard or hardly working?" Evander teased. "I just finished the chapter on mermaid reproduction and childbirth. I'm not looking forward to the chapter on how our species evolved. That will require quite a bit of research on my part. My entire answer to that guy at the UN was pretty much all I knew on the subject." Jessica said. "Why don't you call your half brother and ask him to just contribute a chapter? He's got an extremely good grasp on biology." Evander suggested. Jessica looked at him and smiled. "Good idea. But, being a king must make one awfully busy. I hope he can spare the time." Jessica said. Evander looked down at his wife's belly, which was already beginning to pooch out a little. He smiled. "Hey, today's Saturday. We've both been working really hard lately. Why don't we go to the Digital World for a little fun?" Evander suggested. "I'd like that." Jessica said.

Jessica closed the word processing program on her computer and brought up a Digi-Port. "Any particular location you have in mind?" Jessica asked. "I thought we'd go to the beach on File Island." Evander said.

Evander and Jessica prepared food and picnic baskets. They also packed their swimsuits and headed to File Island in the Digital World. They had already eaten and Evander was putting away the dirty dishes to wash later. He opened the picnic basket and put the plates inside. Evander was wearing orange swim trunks. Jessica was sporting an aqua blue bikini. On the beach, Agumon and Gabumon were running around chasing each other. They were playing tag. Terriermon was out surfing on a surfboard. "Cowabunga!" Terriermon cried out before giggling. Ladybugmon was building a sandcastle.

Jessica put sunglasses on and laid back on Evander's lap. "You know, I've been thinking about Kappamon lately." Jessica said. Evander looked down at his wife and frowned. "Yeah. That was a pretty noble thing she did, giving up her life to rescue your mother." Evander said, before looking out at Terriermon surfing. Agumon and Gabumon were still running around in circles in their game of tag. Agumon tripped all of a sudden, allowing Gabumon to bring his paw down on Agumon. "Tag! Now, YOU'RE it!" Gabumon said. Agumon stood up and looked down at the sand. "What did I trip over?" Agumon asked. Agumon and Gabumon both looked down to see what looked like a yellow bill sticking out of a pile of sand. "What the?" Agumon and Gabumon said in unison. They both started digging, removing sand until they saw a familiar face. Agumon's and Gabumon's faces went surprised. "Kappamon!?" Agumon and Gabumon said in unison. This caught Jessica and Evander's attention. They both sat up when they heard Agumon and Gabumon say Kappamon's name. Jessica lifted her sunglasses to her forehead. They both then got up and ran over to where Agumon and Gabumon were. Jessica's belly wasn't too large yet, not being that far into her pregnancy, so she could still run. "Thank you for digging me out!" Kappamon said. Agumon and Gabumon dug some more until Kappamon was completely free.

"I tried to make some friends with a bunch of Crabmon, but they told me they would only be my friend if I let them bury me in the sand. But they left me here and never came back." Kappamon explained. Jessica looked down at the familiar Digimon sympathetically. "I'm so sorry to hear that." Jessica said. Kappamon frowned. "Before they left, they made fun of how ugly I am." She said sadly. Kappamon then looked up at Jessica. "I wish I were beautiful. Just like you! You're incredibly beautiful! I've never seen anyone with such bright orange hair before! And your blue eyes compliment that perfectly! It reminds me of a sunset ocean!" Kappamon said. Jessica had mixed feelings at this remark. She loved the compliment that Kappamon had given her, but at the same time this revealed that her DigiEgg reversion eradicated all of her past memories. Nevertheless, she smiled and said "Thank you. But you know what? I think you're beautiful too." Jessica responded.

Kappamon looked surprised to hear that. "R-R-Really? No one's ever told me that before!" Jessica stares intensely into Kappamon's eyes. "Could I be your friend?" She asked. Kappamon's face lit up. "Do you mean it?" She asked. "Of course." Jessica responded, closing her eyes and smiling. "I've…I've never had friends before! Ever since I hatched, I've been all alone!" Kappamon said. Jessica's eyes started watering up. "Well then, I'm glad to be your first. But first things first. We should introduce ourselves." Jessica extended a hand. "My name is Jessica. Jessica Glovion." She gestured her other hand in Evander's direction. "And this is my husband, Evander." Kappamon shook Jessica's hand. "Hi, Jessica. I'm Kappamon."

Evander put his thumb to his chest and smiled. "I'll be your friend too." He said. Agumon chimed in, "And so will I. I'm Agumon." "And I'm Gabumon." "I'm Leormon" "And I am Pawnchessmon." Ladybugmon flew around in circles above all of their heads. "And my name's Ladybugmon! I'm Ladybugmon!" Ladybugmon said cheerfully before giggling. Terriermon was still riding a wave. He looked over and saw the rest of them conversing with a small Digimon, but he was too far away to see who it was. "Who's that Digimon? A Kamemon? No…a Betamon." Terriermon said while wincing, trying to make out who Evander and the rest were talking to. When the wave carried his surfboard close enough, he got a good look at the small reptilian Digimon's face. "No way! It's Kappamon!" Terriermon said in surprise. He was so surprised that he wiped out! Terriermon poked his head out of the water and grabbed his surfboard.

Terriermon ran over to them as fast as he could. "Hey!" Terriermon said. Kappamon turned to him and smiled. "Oh, hello. Are you with this group?" Kappamon asked. Terriermon smiled and gave a nod. "Yep! I sure am! I'm Terriermon." He replied. "You'll never guess what happened to me! I just made 7 friends all at once!" Kappamon said. Terriermon took a couple of steps closer to Kappamon. "I hate to ruin the lucky number, but if you don't mind, I could make it 8." He said. Kappamon smiled brighter. "OH, thank you!" She said as she began crying. "I've been all alone for my entire life! I hatched from a DigiEgg 2 months ago, and no one has ever been this kind to me." She said.

"Agumon and I were just in a game of tag. He's 'it' now. Do you want to play?" Gabumon asked. "What's tag?" Kappamon asked. Agumon started waving his arms up and down. "The rules are really easy! Whoever is 'it' chases everyone else, and whoever that person touches becomes 'it' then they have to chase you." Agumon said, cheerfully. "Sure! I'll play!" Kappamon said.

Kappamon really didn't remember anything that had happened. She had forgotten about Aqualia, "Agent Salvation", Kinandon, Posi, her using a shapeshifting device and killing the royal family as Jessica, she had forgotten the time she and Jessica had spent together as Jessica tried to reform Kappamon's heart full of hatred before finally succeeding when she protected Kappamon from AncientMermaidmon's attack. It was at that point that Kappamon realized that Jessica truly forgave her for committing a horrible atrocity disguised as her. Jessica was not pretending in an attempt to force Kappamon to let her guard down. She genuinely forgave and cared about her. But she had forgotten all of that once General Coral cut Kappamon's head off while she was disguised as Jessica. Being killed had reverted Kappamon back into a DigiEgg, and though she was reborn, everything she ever experienced was erased. Jessica watched Agumon, Gabumon, and Kappamon running around playing together. She looked at Kappamon and noticed that she looked genuinely happy. Jessica felt that this moment they were experiencing on the beach was bittersweet. "A promise is a promise." Jessica said softly. "A promise is a promise." She repeated.