Chapter 2: Jessica's True Past Revealed!

Evander, Jessica, and their partner Digimon sat on a couch in Kyoko's living room. Kyoko sat on a couch in front of them with a coffee table sitting in between them. Jessica had just finished explaining everything to Kyoko. "I see. That's….a lot to take in." She said. "I know it sounds insane, but it's the truth. This planet is not my home. I'm a species from the planet Aqualia. They're very advanced. Enough where space travel is as easy for them as getting in a plane and heading to another country is for humans. My species has visited yours in the distant past covertly, but some people spotted them. That's how you ended up with the mermaid myth. Although my mother told me that that's not what we call ourselves." Jessica explained. Kyoko quickly glanced at Agumon, Gabumon, and Terriermon before returning her gaze to Jessica. "Well, considering that there's a talking dinosaur, a talking rabbit, a talking…..whatever this blue and yellow thing is sitting in my living room, I am at least open to your story. Are they….aliens too?" Kyoko asked. "We're Digimon." Agumon said. "We've come from The Digital World. It's not a part of this universe." Gabumon added. "So...you're not extraterrestrials, you're ultraterrestrials?" Kyoko said. Ladybugmon tilted his head and had a worried expression on his face. "Ultraterrbesticle? That sounds scary. Do I need to see a doctor?" He said. Jessica chuckled. "No, Ladybugmon. An ultraterrestrial is a being from an entirely different universe. That sort of describes Digimon." she explained. Ladybugmon's worried expression vanished. "Ah! Yes! I am definitely an uberterrbestial!" Ladybugmon said.

Kyoko was rubbing her chin obviously thinking hard and processing all of this. "Still, is there any more evidence you can offer me? Claiming to be an alien species is quite a tall claim." She said. Jessica grimaced and rubbed the back of her head. She knew there was one way to prove her claim, but it was a bit awkward. "Well, there is one way, but…." She began. "But what?" "But I'll have to take off my pants to show you." Kyoko looked confused. "Well, I don't know what you're going to do, but if you can give some evidence you're a spacewoman by doing that, go for it."

Jessica took her pajama pants she had been wearing and tossed them aside. Being attacked in the middle of the night by Devidramon meant that they had no time to get dressed, so Evander and Jessica were still in their pajamas. Jessica's pajama bottoms were adorned with cartoonish looking fish. Jessica was now wearing a blue and purple flannel shirt that she wore when she had gone to bed earlier and a pair of pink panties. Jessica lay down on the floor with her legs extremely close together so that they were touching each other. She closed her eyes. "Ok. It's been a long time since I've done this. Let me concentrate." Jessica said. A few seconds passed. "Well?" Kyoko said. "Hold on. I hadn't taken this form since I was 12. I'm a little rusty." Jessica said. Suddenly, the flesh on her legs began to slowly morph into scales. Then, her scaly legs fused together, and her feet morphed into fins. She flapped her mermaid tail up and down a few times and looked at Kyoko, who looked astonished. Her mouth was hanging open. A silence filled the room for several seconds. "Well…I'm convinced. It just goes to show 'there are more things in heaven and on Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophies, Horacio'." Kyoko said. Ladybugmon looked around, seeming a bit surprised. "There's a guy named Horacio here?" Ladybugmon asked. Evander facepalmed.

Kyoko then said "Wait a minute. I thought mermaids had to get some special kind of magic to gain legs. How were you walking about for the past 29 years of your life?". Jessica chuckled and replied "I think you've watched The Little Mermaid too many times. Aqualians have the ability to cause their cells to mutate back and forth between fleshly humanoid legs and scaly fins at will. It took me a few moments to change because I haven't done it in a while. We're an amphibious race." Ladybugmon looked confused again. "What is this? Big Word Day? What the heck does Amphiboous mean?" Evander chuckled and shook his head. "Ladybugmon, please always be this funny and adorable." he said. "Amphibious. It means she can live on land or in the water. Like our old friend, Betamon for example!" Leormon said. Ladybugmon perked up and started bouncing up and down like a baby in a stroller! "Oh yeah! Betamon! He's awesome!" But Ladybugmon's face soon went dour. "But….last I heard, some hackers got him and sold him at the Digi-Market in Eden." Ladybugmon said. All of the Digimon got a little sad. "I'm guessing this Betamon is someone you met during the interval we were apart." Jessica said, still lying down on the floor and flapping her mermaid tail up and down. "Yep." Leormon said in a sad tone of voice.

All of a sudden, everyone heard the Skype theme start playing. Jessica was getting a phone call. Jessica grabbed her pajama pants that were laying beside her and took her smartphone out. Jessica looked down at her smartphone and saw that it was her mother. Jessica pressed the green button with the telephone icon on it in order to answer the call. "Hi, Mom." She said, trying not to seem worried or upset. Jessica's mother, on the other hand, had a serious expression on her face. Jessica's mother had short orange hair in a bob cut. She was in her late 50s. so she had a good bit of grey intertwining with the orange. Although some alien species age much more slowly than humans, and ergo, can live much longer, Aqualians like Jessica and her mother aged at about the same pace as humans. Jessica's mother was living in the United States of America. That was the country Evander and Jessica grew up in. Evander and Jessica got married at the ages of 18 and 19 respectively (Evander is one year older than Jessica). But Evander and Jessica both moved to Japan 6 years later when a job offer came to Jessica from Kamishiro Enterprises. Jessica had just finished college, so the fact that she was offered such a huge opportunity so quickly came as a surprise. She would manage various things, such as accounts in Eden (when they should terminate due to illegal usage or if a user had passed away), payments to computer scientists who worked on the servers, and other important things. She even did TV commercials for new areas in Eden. It was Rie Shibie herself who personally contacted Jessica over e-mail to offer her the job.

"Jessica, we need to talk." Jessica's mother said. Jessica's face went dour. What would her mother want to talk to her about? She was already going through so much. She did not need one more thing to worry about. "Mom, what's wrong? Are you and Dad ok?" Jessica asked in a panicked tone. "Yes, we're fine. But I fear you may not be." Jessica's mother replied. Jessica looked somewhat surprised that her mother would say that? Did she know about Kinandon's attempt on her life? How could she know? She was over 6,000 miles away! "Mrs. Amber, how are you?" Evander asked. "Actually, my name isn't Mrs. Amber. Your wife's maiden name is a lie." Jessica's mother responded. Jessica's eyebrows furrowed. Was her mother trying to prank her? "Jessica, my real name is Victoria Tessa Poseidon. Your real name is Anastasia Calista Poseidon." Her mother explained.

Jessica looked at her mother on screen as though she grew an extra head. "I mean, Jessica Amber is a nice name in my opinion, but why did you wait 29 years to tell me you wanted to change it? Plus, I'm a grown woman so you can't make me do it now." She said jokingly. Victoria (Jessica's mother) turned wasn't joking. "Stop joking around. I'm being serious. Listen, your father and I haven't been entirely truthful about your past. Recently, the radar that's been scanning the skies ever since we moved to Earth has recently picked up an Aqualian aircraft. At first we didn't think much of it. After all, although it's uncommon, it's not unheard of for Aqualians to come to Earth. After all, that's how so many mermaid myths came about. It was the result of some reckless girls who actually flirted with sailors and pirates when they were supposed to keep their presence hidden. But then I saw the news on TV about a Digimon attacking an apartment building. The camera man was able to pick up just a brief glimpse of your face clearly, and I knew something was wrong. The news camera was able to pick up some of the dialogue you had with the man riding that awful creature. I overheard him saying he was from Aqualia." Victoria explained.

"How much did the news stream pick up?" Jessica asked. "Not enough for me to know fully what's going on. All I know is that he's from the Aqualian royal family and wants you dead. I think I know why." Victoria explained. Jessica closed her eyes, bowed her head, and took a deep sigh. "I know why, but it doesn't make sense. He said that I murdered the entire royal family. He wants to avenge the king and his brothers and sisters." Jessica said. Victoria's eyes went wide with shock. "What!? That's not the reason I had in mind at all!" She exclaimed. "Then what?" Jessica asked.

Victoria took a deep breath. "I'll start from the beginning. The man who ruled Aqualia for the past 29 years is named Ahab Neptune, but he is not the son of the previous king. It has always been the case that the successor of the king would either be an eldest son or an eldest daughter. Ahab was the leader of a team of revolutionaries who didn't care for the rule of the current monarch. The monarch at the time of the revolution was a woman. The queen was kind and compassionate to all of her subjects. One of her favorite subjects was Ahab Neptune. Ahab was 'the court jester', so to speak. Now, I don't want you conjuring up cartoonish images of him in a ridiculous outfit. It wasn't like jesters on Earth in the middle ages. Ahab was more akin to a modern stand up comedian. He was hilarious. He always made the queen laugh. In fact, although the queen had several jesters, she chose to have Ahab perform for her more often than the others. But the queen didn't just use him for her own entertainment. He was a dear friend to her. They often spent time together at bars, arcades, and went to the stadium together." Victoria explained.

Evander interrupted and said "Wait, they have arcades on Aqualia?" Victoria nodded. "Yes, and they're far more impressive than anything Earth arcades have to offer." Victoria took a sip of tea that was sitting on her desk. She was Skype calling her daughter using her home desktop computer. "Anyway," She continued, "Ahab developed a big crush on the queen. Unfortunately, the queen had accepted the marriage proposal of another man before Ahab had the chance to confess his feelings. Ahab confessed his feelings anyway and begged the queen to not marry the other man, but the queen said she had been dating this other man for months and that she truly loved him. 'You knew this for months' the queen said, 'why didn't you say anything before'? Ahab's reasoning was that the relationship would probably not last as long as it did, and as soon as it broke up, he would confess how he felt about the queen."

Jessica tilted her head, "Mom, this sounds like a great story, but what does this have to do with me?" Victoria scowled, "Be patient, child! I'm getting to it!" Victoria said in a frustrated tone. Jessica moved herself over back to the couch and sat beside Evander. Victoria collected herself and continued her story. "That queen….was me." Victoria said. Everyone in the room listening to the video call looked surprised. "Mom...YOU were the previous queen of Aqualia?" Jessica asked, surprised, yet somewhat incredulous. Victoria nodded. "Indeed, child. I was the queen of Aqualia. Queen Victoria Poseidon." She said.

Evander leaned in so that his mother in law could see him on the screen. He rudely pushed Jessica's head back so he could get closer. "Wait, so you mean Jessica is a princess?" Evander asked. Jessica pushed Evander back so her neck could go back to being upright again. "Yes, she is. She'd probably be queen now were it not for the coup d'etat. Aqualian monarchs give up the crown when they feel that their oldest child is old enough and mature enough to assume the throne, or if they're elderly. If they're assassinated, the next generation assumes the throne automatically." Victoria answered. Evander yanked the phone out of Jessica's hands and stared into the camera. "So what does any of this have to do with Kinandon thinking Jessica's a murderer?" Evander asked. "Good heavens! I'm getting to that!" Victoria said in exasperation. Jessica took her phone back, giving Evander an annoyed look. "Jessica, when I married your father, something in Ahab snapped. He disappeared and I stopped hearing from him for months. Then, one day, I heard rumors among the castle guards that Ahab had left the kingdom and was plotting with revolutionaries to cease my throne. I didn't believe a word of it. I thought it was just dumb gossip. However, one day, I looked out the window of the highest floor of the castle and saw a large army approaching in battle ships. It's hard for me to describe the ships, but think about that craft Luke Skywalker in Star Wars flew when he destroyed the Death Star, except under water. Somehow Ahab had amassed a huge army of discontents, each with their own personal grudge against the current monarchy. An all out civil war broke out. Unfortunately, their military might overcame the Aqualian army and they took over the castle. Ahab entered my own personal chambers and approached me, demanding that he be made king and that I be his queen. I refused. But Ahab knew he could get some leverage. He saw lying next to mine and my husband's bed, a baby crib with a beautiful baby girl crying in it. He went to grab the baby to hold her hostage, but when he did so, the baby started glowing a bright golden light. A big stream of water came forth and pushed Ahab against the wall. That baby was you, Jessica. I grabbed you and fled the castle with your father. We fled to the farthest part of Aqualia we could find. We used ShapeChange devices to alter our appearances and take on new identities. We were no longer the king and queen. We were no longer King Evangelos Poseidon and Queen Victoria Poseidon. Now, we were just Philip Amber and Maria Amber."

Jessica was silent, taking it all in. Jessica's mother went on to explain that they changed her name too. They had named her Anastasia and gave her Calista as a middle name, with Poseidon being the family name. Anastasia is Greek for "Will rise again" or "resurrect". Calista is Greek for "Most Beautiful". Poseidon is the name of the Greek god of the seas. Victoria named her Jessica Amber because she found it to be a bland and common name that would not attract anyone's attention. Jessica was a little insulted to find out that her name was given to her precisely because her mother thought it was boring, but she agreed that her rationale made sense. Victoria explained that ShapeChange was a brand name device that allowed people to completely alter their physical forms. It was made illegal after several months of being on the market because criminals were using it for misdeeds, so Victoria stole two from the black market. It was for their own survival. Victoria explained that they didn't alter Jessica's appearance because she was just a baby at the time, and when babies grow up, they rarely are identifiable with their baby pictures.

The room was silent for a minute. "I know this is a lot to take in, dear, so I'll give you a moment to process all of it." Victoria said. Evander smiled slightly and looked over at Jessica. He put his hand on her shoulder. "I married a princess. An actual bona fide princess." He said. Evander thought it was pretty cool. Jessica just felt lied to her whole life. It was one thing to have to pretend to be a human her whole life, hiding what she really was from a species that feared the unknown. It was another to think she was just a regular Aqualian girl who grew up in an average run of the mill underwater house before her parents "randomly" decided to move to Earth. By the way, she wondered, why did they come to Earth? She was a 5 year old girl when they arrived on this planet. "Mom? Did we come to Earth because they found us?" She asked bluntly. "Kind of. The government was looking for us ever since we fled the castle. Sometime right after we celebrated your fifth birthday, scientists had invented a way to track down all the users of the ShapeChange devices. They had a super computer that would analyze and scan the digital data of the entire planet. Any and all ShapeChange devices would be detected, because the ShapeChange devices let out unique digital signals. And King Ahab publicly declared that he would use this technology to round up all ShapeChange users. Evangelos and I knew that we would be found. It was now only a matter of time. In haste, we decided to go to Earth." Victoria explained. Jessica chimed in "And you gave the stupid and ill thought out excuse to your little girl that you just wanted to see what other planets were like." Jessica said in an angry tone. A tear streamed down Victoria's cheek. "You're angry. You have every right to be." Victoria said before she was cut off by Jessica. "You lied to me. You kept my identity and heritage a secret from me. My whole life is a lie!" She said, her voice rising after every sentence. Gabumon rushed over and put his paws on Jessica's arm. "Jessica, please calm down." he said. Leormon chimed in. "That's right. From what I hear, everything your mother did was to protect you." Evander chimed in. "Also, never tell a woman to calm down."

Jessica didn't say anything. Her bottom half was still a mermaid tail from when she proved her alien identity to Kyoko, but she had moved her way over the couch that Evander was sitting on to talk to her mother on Skype. Jessica started crying. The weight of everything was starting to take its toll. Her life was unraveling so quickly. "But why does Ahab's son want me dead? Why does he think I killed his family?" She asked as tears streamed down her cheek. "I don't know, honey. I had assumed King Ahab wanted to finish what he started." Victoria responded. Evander raised his finger. "Do you want a detective's opinion?" He asked. "We sure do! What have you got in mind, Sherlock?" Agumon asked. Kyoko, who was quietly listening to all of this, spoke for the first time in half an hour. "Hey! I'm Sherlock! Evander is Watson." She said. "ShapeChange devices." Evander said. Immediately it dawned on everyone. "Jessica, if your mom and dad altered their appearance for 5 years so no one would recognize their dethroned monarchs, and if these things were all over the place on the black market, then it isn't a stretch to suppose that someone used one of these devices to completely copy your form down to the last skin cell." Evander hypothesized. Kyoko raised her hand. "Brilliant deduction!" She cheered. Evander put his finger on his chin and rubbed his scraggly beard. "The only unsolved mystery is why someone would want to frame you for treason." Evander said.

"Treason? That sounds delicious!" Ladybugmon said cheerfully. "No, Ladybugmon. Treason isn't something you can eat. It's a betrayal of your own government." Agumon explained. Kyoko stood up and walked over to the couch Jessica was sitting on. She grabbed some tissues that were on the coffee table and handed one to her. She then took the phone out of Jessica's hand and looked into the front camera. "Hi. I'm Kyoko Kuremi. I'm your son-in-law's boss. I've heard your true family name spoken repeatedly during this big revelation, and I just have to ask; how did you get the last name Posiedon?" She asked. "Here on Earth, that's the name of a god of Greek myth." Kyoko said. "Yes, there's a reason some humans worshipped a god by the name of Poseidon. You see, he was our ancestor many many generations ago. His full name is Sebastian Poseidon, but most people just referred to him by his last name. He visited Earth centuries ago. He became so fond of Earthlings that he stayed here a while until he got homesick and returned to Aqualia where he resumed his reign as king. I assure you. He's no myth." Victoria explained. Kyoko chuckled. "It reminds me of something out of a comic book! Gods being aliens in disguise and all that." She started pacing back and forth. "Before I give the phone back to Jessica, I have a detective hunch regarding part of your story." Kyoko said. "And what is that?" Victoria asked. "You said that when Ahab went to grab your baby daughter, she started glowing, and a big rush of water knocked Ahab into the wall." Kyoko said. "That's right." Victoria affirmed. "My hypothesis is that your daughter possesses the same god like powers as her ancestor Sebastian Posidon. Greek myth tells us that Poseidon had the powers to control the seas and storms." Kyoko said before being cut off by Evander. "Here's a list of all his powers according to this online article I found." Evander said. Evander had possession of Kyoko's laptop. It was sitting in the corner on her home desk. He had grabbed it when no one was looking.

"Read it off." Kyoko said.

Evander began reading the article. "According to Lernodo Newtonic; '"Poseidon was one of the major deities in ancient Greece. He was the god of the sea, of earthquakes and of horses. As one of the primary ruling gods of Olympus, Poseidon was a powerful entity with abilities befitting the stature of a god. Among other things, he had complete control over water bodies and the creatures living in them; he could create storms, earthquakes, floods and droughts; had superhuman strength; and could shapeshift and teleport. Following his involvement in the Olympian riot, all of his powers were once stripped away from him by his brother Zeus, only to be later restored. This indicates his powers being subject to the will of Zeus. Moreover, his powers decreased the further away from the sea he was. Here’s a look at the powers of the ancient Greek God Poseidon.

Much like his brothers, Poseidon had incredible godly strength. He was able to hurl mountains at his enemies and submerge entire islands. Even when his powers were stripped away, his strength remained superior to that of any demigod. Since he was the lord of the sea and the ruler of oceans, it is only natural for Poseidon to have complete control over water bodies and the creatures that reside in them. Among other things, his powers over water bodies allowed him to:-

*Create gigantic tsunamis and tidal waves.

*Create gigantic water funnel clouds.

*Master hydrogenesis where he could summon water out of thin air or create it through his own power.

*Propel himself through water at incredible speeds.

*Walk on water and even solidify it while even creating water shields.

*Bring about floods and droughts at will. He even helped Zeus in his quest to end humanity by unleashing lethal floods all around the mortal world.

*Ride sea waves and even use them as a form of high-speed transportation.

*Be extremely resistant to heat and burns."

Every time Evander listed one of Posidon's powers, the Digimon all gasped in unison. Jessica sighed. "What? You think I have all those abilities?" She asked incredulously. Victoria told her that she thought it was possible. She explained that few in the Poseidon family throughout the centuries had ever made use of these powers on Aqualia because it either skipped generations or because they wanted to be rulers who were loved rather than feared, but that as a baby, Jessica may have accidentally used some of that power to protect herself. Victoria explained that this was not a normal Aqualian ability. Only those in the bloodline of Sebastian Poseidon could do these fantastic feats, and no one really knows where these powers come from or what in their biology enables them to do them. Evander stood up and put his hands on his head. "Wow! Wow! Wow! So I'm not only married to a princess, but a goddess as well! Jessica, you are an awesome woman!" Evander said. Jessica slammed her fist on the coffee table and got up. Her mermaid tail had morphed back into legs. She had been trying to work on it the entire time she and her mother were talking, but she had difficulty. She had more difficulty regaining her legs than making a tail. She walked over to her discarded pajama bottoms and put them back on. She turned and glared at Evander. "Listen, Evander. I'm not a princess and I'm not a goddess. My name is not Anastasia Poseidon. I'm Jessica Glovion; your wife, Kamishiro Enterprises employee, and member of the digidestined! That's who I am! That's ALL I am!" Jessica said, raising her voice.

Kyoko could tell that Jessica was upset. It was quite a massive info dump. "Mrs. Amber… err...Poseidon, over here in Japan, it's 11:00 at night. We should get some sleep. We'll investigate this mysterious Jessica doppelganger in the morning." Kyoko said. "Ok." Victoria said. She handed the phone back to Jessica, who simply said "Bye, mother." before shutting the phone off. Jessica was clearly upset with her mother for keeping all of this a secret from her. It was bad enough that she was on the run from Kinandon, who most likely was the very king of Aqualia now that his whole family had been murdered. But now she finds out that she was supposed to be the next queen, and in fact, could be a powerful goddess on par with Poseidon from Earth's mythology? It was like she no longer knew who she even was. "Who am I?" She said out loud. She didn't mean to. She meant to only say it in her mind. Evander walked towards her and wrapped her in his arms. He caressed her hair gently. "Like you said; you're Jessica Glovion. You're a successful career woman. You're digidestined. And you're the love of my life." Jessica started crying again.

Kyoko got some pillows and blankets for Jessica and Evander and told them they could sleep on the two couches for the night. They agreed. As Evander was preparing his bedding, he suddenly realized that he hadn't asked the Digimon how they got back. Ladybugmon was making a comfy place at the end of the couch where Evander's feet were. "I just remembered something! I wanted to ask you how you made it back to the physical world?" Evander asked. "I really don't know. One moment we were fast asleep, and the next moment, we were in some guy's apartment in the real world." Ladybugmon answered.