Author's Notes: I'm glad that the last chapter received such a positive response, I was a little iffy when it came to the whole scene with the well but I didn't know how else to write it. It is so odd going from writing how powerful Mew is in one story and switching to one where she is basically powerless to even the most basic enemies.

Jerex: Just missed your review while I was writing the last chapter.

The whole multiverse theory isn't all that off from the canon explanation. In the Digimon Manga, they show that the shows exist in multiple timelines and different universe. The Digimon Manga follows an alternate version of Tai, who does meet Davis (02), an early game Ryo and Takuya (04). He meets them due to villains who control space and time, but that is a story for another time.

Littleditto: Yep, it is one of those little jelly balls. Or should I say two?

Ultima-owner: There is a reason for why it was sealed there, but it is probably not the reason you are thinking.

Guisniperman: It was another one of the things that Mew now has, not sure if I forgot to write that or not. Thought I did, but I'll go back and check to see if I didn't add that.

Chapter 10: New Paint Job

"See, I told you it wasn't a mirage,"Gotsumon said proudly as everyone stood in front of a half destroyed cruise ship… in the middle of a desert.

"You've been seeing a lot of things whenever you drive," Pumpkinmon pointed out, causing Gotsumon to lose some of his pride. "First there was that giant skeleton you saw."

"There was a giant skeleton!" Gotsumon shouted defensively.

"You said it was shooting fireworks into the sky," Mew decided to join in, a smirk on her face. Given how she didn't know half of what could or couldn't be in the Digital World, she did believe it was possible… But she wasn't gonna say that and ruin the chance to mess with Gotsumon.

"Didn't you say you also saw a giant cactus?" Lucemon honestly asked.

"The first one was a mirage," Gotsumon stated before he continued. "But the second one was real, I tell you!"

"Doesn't really matter," Dobermon final spoke up, cutting off any more taunts. "I know this ship, it belonged to one of Etemon's minions. A large chicken by the name of Kokatorimon, and by the looks of it, he was attacks by someone."

"Do you think it's still around here?" Mew asked Dobermon.

Dobermon took a sniff of the air and grimaced. He shook his head to try and rid himself of the foul stench he just smelled.

"Can't tell," Dobermon's lips were pulled back in a sneer. "Kokatorimon kept a crew of Numemon and they… Tended to carry around their leavings as weapons." He said carefully, knowing how Mew would be if he swore around her 'son'. "So their scent overpowers everything else right now."

"Their what?" Lucemon asked.

"Their poop," Pumpkinmon chimed in helpfully, causing Lucemon to grimace as he wishing he never asked in the first place.

Mew thought for a moment about how that reminded her of Grimers and how they spat up sewage.

"Well, best to see if we can find anything of use," Mew said happily. "Let's divide into groups to speed this up. Lucemon, you are with me. Pumpkinmon, you are with Gotsumon. Dobermon and Jellymon stay here and guard the trailer." She declared, pulling out the large eyed Digimon from her hood from before.

They never found out what the Digimon Mew found was called, so she just called it Jellymon till they could prove what it's real name was. It spent its day either on Mew's head or hiding in her hoodie, and had yet to make a single sound since it was found.

The only reason they knew the thing wasn't dead was because it would sometimes blink and stare at things.

"What?" Dobermon barked at that. "Why do I have to stay behind and guard the trailer, the Monochromon sould scare off anyone who tries to take it."

"True," Mew admitted before continuing. "But like you said, this ship belonged to Etemon. If this ship was recently destroyed, then Etemon might hear about this and check it out," She explained. "I want you out here because you are more likely to either hear, see, or smell him coming than any of us."

Dobermon frowned at that logic, it might be correct, but it didn't mean he liked it.

"Or you can switch places with one of the duo," Mew added. "And come onto that ship, which I am sure will smell even worse up close and personal." SHe finished with a smirk.

"Tch," Dobermon finally relented. "Fine, but if I find one thing off, I am going to drag you off this ship whether you like it or not."

"Deal," Mew agreed and plopped Jellymon onto his head, much to his annoyance.

xXx

The inside of the ship was a complete wreck. From the outside most of what they could see was the dark hull of the ship, but once inside, it spoke an entirely new story.

It didn't look like someone had a simple fight on this ship, no, it looked like someone tried to blow the entire ship apart!

The ship's portholes were shattered, the floor was covered with holes that splintered upward, and many of the doors were jammed in their twisted doorframes.

Mew and Lucemon took the upper levels of the ship where the damage wasn't as bad, while Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon practically begged to have the lower levels for one reason.

"Angry Rock!"

Boom!

"Surprise!"

Bang!

It was fun busting open the sealed doors.

The two of them were alternating between busting and searching, each one trying to see if they could get one of the doors to fly off it's handles and not just swing open with a slam.

"So, what are we supposed to be looking for?" Gotsumon asked after they had already busted open several doors.

"Um…" Pumpkinmon stopped mid headbutt to think about that. "She never really said. Surprise!" He finished as slammed his head into the door, causing it to fly open. "All she said was anything of use, but never said what that could have been."

"Maybe food?" Gotsumon shrugged as he checked the room Pumpkinmon opened.

"Yeah, I would like something new," Pumpkinmon agreed. "I'm tired of eating those bananas, or summoning one of my pumpkins to eat. I was something sweeter!" He declared.

"Yeah…" Gotsumon stated wishfully. "I would love to have something like that but cold. Wonder if they have any ice cream here." He wondered aloud.

"We're in the middle of a desert," Pumpkinmon replied, till he added a moment later. "Dang, now I want ice cream too."

Silence fell between the two of them before Pumpkinmon asked him a question he had been wondering for awhile, but had wanted to wait at the right moment to ask his friend.

"Hardest Pu-"

"Do you think Mew and Lucemon are really related?" Pumpkinmon suddenly asked, a broad grin on his face.

"Wha?" Gotsumon said in sudden confusion, and ended up sending his fist through the door and getting stuck. "Oh, come on now." While he struggled to get his fist unstuck, Pumpkinmon continued to act like he didn't notice.

"You know," Pumpkinmon continued. "You saw what she looked like back in the human world, and she looked nothing like Lucemon. She looked more like she was related to Gatomon."

"I suppose," Gotsumon gave an agreement between his efforts to pull out his arm. "Can you-"

"An-and she can be a bit random," Pumpkinmon was trying to choke back laughter once Gotsumon had to put both feet on the door to start pulling. "She plucked us right out of Myotismon's castle, and Jellymon right from where ever she found it. Maybe she did the same to him?"

"Will you just shut up about about that?" Gotsumon finally snapped. "Can you help me get unstuck from this door?!"

"Fine, fine," Pumpkinmon now let out his laughter.

Pumpkinmon grabbed his friend's arm, and with a swift jerk, Gotsumon's arm came out.

"Yes, finally!" Gotsumon said happily, he jumped into the air with joy. "I was worrieeeeeee-"

Just for his jump to cause his heavy rock frame to fall through the wooden floor.

"Ow," Came his weak voice from below.

"Don't worry buddy, I'll come down there!" Pumpkinmon said in panic, running down the hallway to find a stairway further down. Completely missing someone was listening to them nearby.

xXx

Mew was currently searching around what she assumed to be the boat's helm. It was kinda hard to take since the wheel was gone, and a massive hole was in the ceiling that went through to the sky.

But she wasn't really a boat person, she created Lapras for a reason after all. So for all she knew, the room could have been used for something else entirely.

She had just found a folder full of papers that she heard someone behind her.

"So, how are Gotsumon and Pumpkinmon doing?" Mew asked, not turning around. She was looking through the papers to see if they were any importance."I could hear their ruckus from all the way up here, hope they don't hurt themselves too much."

"They're fine," Lucemon told her, an odd tone in his voice that Mew failed to notice.

"Good to hear," Mew stated, pulling the papers out. A grin on her face as she recognized what they were. "I'm guessing you did something that made them stock destroying everything down there."

"Gotsumon fell through the floor to a lower level and Pumpkinmon went to go get him," Lucemon explained as he got closer to Mew now.

"Well, Gotsumon is made of rock, he won't bruise easily," Mew joked as she turned around with the papers in hand. "I managed to find some…" She trailed off once she saw the troubled look on his face.
"Is something wrong Lucemon?"

"No," Lucemon told her, but was unable to look at her while doing so. "Just… Gotsumon and Pumpkinmon were just being weird." He said with a strained smile.

"That, is a very poor lie," Mew straight out called his bluff. "They are always weird, nothing to get worried over." Lucemon cringed at that, he had thought of his lie on the spot. "So tell me, what's got my son all tense."

Lucemon gave a reply, but it was so low that Mew wasn't able to hear it.

"What was that?" She asked him.

"Are…" Lucemon started with a louder voice, but couldn't continue. "It's nothing. I'm going to see if I can see anyone up above."

Before Mew could continue to ask any questions, Lucemon had flow up through the hole in the ceiling and out of sight.

Once in the sky, Lucemon didn't stay over the ship for long. Instead, he made a beeline towards trailer.

As he got closer to it, he could see Dobermon laying on top of the trailer, looking out in the distance as if he was looking for something.

"Dobermon," At the sound of Lucemon's voice, Dobermon's head snapped up and staread at him. "I have some questions."

"What are you doing here?" Dobermon growled, annoyed at the angel Digimon. "You are supposed to be keeping an idea on the boss."

"I know," Lucemon looked abashed, touching his arm nervously. "It's just, that… I am really confused right now."

"You're confused?" Dobermon said in a tired voice. "After traveling with Mew for so long, you would think you would get use to it. Sadly, I still haven't. With how your mother-"

"Is she my mother?" Lucemon said so suddenly, it even surprised himself. "I overheard Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon saying some things, and now…r" He trailed off, unsure of how to continue.

Dobermon internally swore, wishing the idiots a painful death for putting him in this position. It didn't really help with the loaded question that the kid gave him, he felt something bad was going to happen no matter how he answered.

"Mew is…" Dobermon was just going to say that she was his mother, but couldn't bring himself to say it. With Mew, a lot of simple things were now overly complicated, so he didn't have all the answers.

"I honestly don't know," Dobermon admitted. "When she found me, she was already walking around with your egg. With Mew, it is just as possible that she is your mother as it is that she just found your egg in an ancient temple."

An uncomfortable silence fell between the two as Lucemon took in the information.

"Look kid," Dobermon spoke again. "Mew does care about you, and even the idiots can see how protective you are of her. Just go back and ask her yourself."

"I worried," Lucemon's voice came out weakly. "What if I don't like the truth?"

"No idea," Dobermon shrugged. "Just ask her, and do it quickly. I don't like her being alone for too-"

BOOM!

Their heads snapped to the ship to see a portion of it go up in flames.

xXx

(Earlier)

Gotsumon sighed as he was laying down in the dent he made on the metal floor when he fell down. He didn't simply go through just the one floor, he went through several floors till he hit this metal.

He had been waiting several minutes for his friend to come find him, but so far there has been no hide nor stem of Pumpkinmon down here. And he would know the moment that Pumpkinmon showed up, his face literally a Jack-o-Lantern, so the room would have litten up.

Finally, Gotsumon had enough of waiting around and got up off the floor.

He moved away from the hole he created and started to search the dark room he found himself in. His large rocky fingers brushed against the wall as he moved along it, trying to find either a door to somewhere else or a light switch.

After a moment of blindly walking around, he managed to find what felt like a wheel.

Gotsumon decided he might as well try it, he grabbed the wheel with both hands and turned it as hard as he could…

And broke it right off.

"Oh, well that sucks," Gotsumon groaned as he toss the now useless wheel away, where it clanged against the metal floor. He continued to search for a door, but if he head paid a bit more attention to where the wheel was, he would have heard a steady hissing sound.

Eventually, he did find a door.

"Finally," He said with a grin, opening the door to a rather odd sight.

It appeared to be where the crew would usually sleep, with dozens of bunk beds thrown about the place. Some of the mattresses were piled up over near a lit lantern and a pile of empty cans.

But the thing that caught Gotusmon's attention was what was sitting on top of the mattress.

It was, for a lack of better words, a giant chicken in the middle of eating a can of beans, looking just as surprised to see Gotsumon as he was to see it. The chicken looked like it had recently gotten out of a rough fight, missing feathers in large portions of it's body.

"Squawk!" The chicken said in shock. "What are you doing on my ship!" He yelled, waving about his can of half eaten beans and spoon.

"I'm lost?" Gotsumon said in confusion of the sight. He didn't know that many Digimon, so he wasn't sure if this sorry state was how it normally looked.

"You're an intruder!" The crazy bird continue to yell, now standing up to it's full height. It's feathers starting to ruffle in annoyance at the sight of Gotsumon. "Prepared to be deleted little Rookie by one of Lord Etemon's finest!"

At this, Gotsumon knew he was in deep trouble. He was no fighter, and this Digimon must be at least a Champion!

"Feather-"

Gotsumon pulled the door back and closed it just in time, as glowing feather impaled through the door.

Stumbling backwards, Gotsumon looked around the dark room in desperation. He began darting around the room, pulling and throwing anything he could find in a vain attempt to escape.

"Sorry little chickadee," The Chicken's voice came as the door opened. "But this is a dead end."

With the door open, and light now coming through it. Gotsumon could see that their was no escape from the room except the door that the Chicken was now blocking.

"Now make this easy on both of us," The Chicken walked into the room, corning Gotsumon. "And die quickly! Feather Cutter!"

With a swipe of it's wing, several feathers shot out at Gotsumon. Gotsumon brought up his arms in an attempt to protect himself, but found himself getting hit hard enough that he was thrown against the wall with enough force to dent it.

Gotsumon fell to his knees once he slid off the wall and onto the floor.

"Ha, on the floor like the worm you are," The Chicken hooted with laughter. "I love nothing like easy prey! Feather-"

Gotsumon closed his eyes at this and waited for the final blow.

A blow that never came.

"I love nothing like easy prey," A new voice repeated in a smooth voice. The Chicken could only let out a squawk of surprise before the voice continued. "Darkness Spear."

The chicken suddenly felt the air leave his lungs. Looking down, he saw spear going right through his chest.

He didn't even have time to say anymore as he bursted into data.

At the sound of that, Gotsumon opened his eyes and saw a tall and thin figure standing in the doorway, silhouetted. He couldn't see who it was or what it was, but could see a pair of red eyes staring right at him.

"You are lucky," The smooth voice stated. "If my lord hadn't ordered me to keep all of you alive, I would have been able to enjoy both of your deaths." It added with a dark chuckle.

Gotsumon's mouth opened and closed, but no sounds came out. Something about this Digimon told every rock in his body to get away, while also telling him he should already be deleted.

"Now, what should we do with you?" The voice asked.

"We?" Gotsumon managed to croak out, before everything went dark.

xXx

Next thing Gotsumon knew he was standing outside of the now burning ship.

Blinking, he tried to remember why he was there before memories suddenly came flooding back to him. Looking down at his arms, he realized that his memories were right after all.

Gotsumon was no longer grey, his entire body was completely white.

xXx

"That was surprisingly nice of you," The smooth voice stated as she watched the burning ship from a distance away.

"Had to make the memory convincing," Another voice cackled. "Besides, making Rookie Digivolve is a cake walk. I could barely feel a drop in my own power, and I recovered before we even left."

The two figures continued to watch as the ship burned, making sure all went according to their master's plan.

"There goes the Pumpkin," The cackling voice stated as he saw Pumpkinmon jump off the boat. "Aw, he didn't go splat." He whinned.

"He isn't important enough to care about," The smooth voice stated, her eyes were looking at something completely else.

She watched as a white figure circle the boat till it flew down onto the boat, just to return back upwards with something pink a moment later.

XxX

Lucemon dropped Mew off at the trailer just as the rest of the group arrived.

"Mind telling me what happened?" Dobermon asked as he glared down at Pumpkinmon, Gotsumon and Mew. "Cause I know at least one of you are behind this. Right now my money's on Gotsumon."

"Hey, it wasn't me" Gotsumon asked offendedly, crossing his arms. "It was a giant chicken."

"Tch, that would be Kokatorimon" Dobermon said in annoyance.

"Yeah, me and him fought," Gotsumon provided and began to shadow box an imaginary enemy. "We were pow, and bang. Then I punched some of his feather, and he shot me several times, but I kept going-" He continued to ramble on about how epic his fight was.

-'And then I Digivolved!" He declared happily, doing a victory pose.

"You Digivolved?" Mew asked in interest. "What did you turn into?"

"Can't you tell?" Gotsumon motioned to his white body. "I'm Digivolved into Icemon."

"No, you just covered yourself in white paint," Pumpkinmon pointed out.

It was true, the only difference to Gotsumon was that he was white.

"But I did Digivolve," Icemon whinned.

"Yeah, you're just making this up," Dobermon rolled his eyes. "Kokatorimon was one of Etemon's elite, it would have taken several Digimon to stop him. You probably accidentally set something on fire, and blew something up"

"But I-" Icemon tried to defend himself.

"Hey, don't worry Gotsumon," Mew patted the Digimon on the back. "I'm sure one day you will really Digivolve, and it will be something cool."

At this, it was clear that no one was going to believe him. So Icemon poked at the ground in depression.

"Well, I think that's a wrap for the day," Pumpkinmon declared as he scrambled into the trailer.

"Yeah, I think that is all," Mew agreed before pulling out some papers and held them out for Icemon.

"What's this?" He asked glumly, taking the papers in his hand.

"I found some maps," Mew shrugged. "Seems like something we could use traveling through this desert." She finished with a grin.

"Yeah… Okay…" Icemon didn't put up any fight over it and just climbed up to the Monochromon's reigns.

At this, the rest of them started getting into the trailer so they could find their next destination.

"Oh, and Lucemon," Mew called out to him once he entered the trailer. "Are you feeling better, I was worried when you left like that."

Lucemon had tensed when he heard her call his name. When he had left the ship the first time , it was because he was worried about Mew not being his mother. But when the explosion happened, all of that was pushed away.

His mind didn't tell him to save his 'mother', or save 'Mew'. Instead, his mind just kept saying to save 'her', save 'her', and he didn't know what to make of that.

He opened his mouth to give a reply, but he noticed Mew was suddenly looking oddly at something to the side.

Turning his head to look, he saw three Jellymons.