Chapter One: The MessageOne day Nemo was swimming along on a remote part of the reef. He was feeling very sad and lonely, so lost in his new teenage world. He longed for adventure, like the kind he had experienced as a kid! Oh, what should he do? What could he do? His heart was so big for a fish so small, and yet he was stuck again on a reef where everyone seemed to be able to sing along to the same monotonous tune of life. Well, everyone but him.
Nemo sighed, trying to express, if only to himself, the deep desire he felt for a life worth living. For the one he swam now was as dry and shriveled as as a raisin in the sun! Oh, he must find a way to spice up his life! He just had to!
And in that fated moment, as Nemo strived and strived to think of a way, any way to improve his life, he saw it. A corked bottle with a message inside, there on the bottom of the ocean. It was a tiny bottle by human standards, but just the right size for a fancy fish like himself. Intrigued, Nemo darted over as fast as he could and pulled out the cork with his lucky fin. Holding his breath, Nemo pulled out the paper and read it aloud.
"'Wait just a moment, you there under the sea. I've got something for you, a gift it may be. You think our life is boring, a fact I'm adoring. But I've got me a potion, that which is now in motion. So wait just a moment, and breath the water where it's most potent. I've poured it in the bottle, and if you be reading this now it means said mixture is there for the drinking. Or, rather, breathing. So breath it in! Breath it deeply! And soon I'll see you, kind friend in the blue.' My stars!" Nemo gasped upon finishing the mysterious script.
Could it really be true? He sniffed the water around the bottle, and was rewarded with a strong scent that could only be what was left of the potion! Seeing that it was real, Nemo began to swim with the current in desperate earnest. He had to see what it would do!
He heard the neighbors murmur and exclaim to one another as he dashed down the street, following the traces of the potion with his nose up high. Dear oh dear oh my, what would they think of him now?
"Say, Hamtred, there goes that crazy boy of Marlin's! I wonder what's come over him now?" One fish said from her lawn. Then, whatever the reticent substance was began to take effect. Nemo felt his body going numb, first his fins and then his scales and then his tiny fishy innards. His vision also became affected; it faded, and then it was gone and Nemo was cast into a deep slumber. If only he could have known then the severity of his mistake; of the darkness he had just opened a gate for to enter into the sea.
