Finding Home

Prologue – Nemo's Tale

Although they had heard Nemo tell about his adventures with the Tank Gang numerous times before, Nemo's friends from school never tired of listening to him recount all about his time within the tank in Doctor Sherman's office. They all listened in silent, awed attention, even Tad the butterflyfish, who was obnoxious (Nemo didn't know what obnoxious meant, but Tad had claimed that he was obnoxious, so Nemo had decided to believe him). Sheldon, the seahorse who was H2O intolerant, had taken some strange herb for his allergies, so that these allergies would not affect him, thereby forcing him to interrupt Nemo as young clownfish recited his tale. Then there was Pearl, a young octopus girl who claimed that one of her tentacles was shorter than the others. Nemo couldn't tell the difference just by glancing over at her, and didn't want to stare at her tentacles too intently to try to notice the difference, as that seemed to be rather rude. The final member of their little gang was Squirt, an exchange student from the East Australian Current, or EAC, who had met Nemo's Dad only six days earlier, not long after Nemo himself had been taken from his home in the ocean, spirited away by a diver, and placed inside a strange, clear box in what he had later learned was called a dentist's office. Even though Nemo had initially been terrified by all that had happened, he had quickly made friends with the strange but amiable Tank Gang that inhabited the dentist's fish tank. Nemo loved talking about his time with the Tank Gang, about all that he had learned while trapped inside the tank, and about the friends that he had made during his time in captivity.

Earlier, Nemo had told the little gang of ocean children, for the umpteenth time, about what had happened when he had initially been placed, scared and confused, within the strange environment of the tank. It had not taken long for the other inhabitants to become curious about him, to ask him about where he had come from, to welcome him into their tiny, watery world. After getting himself caught in some strange, human-made device, he had first met the leader of the Tank Gang, the gruff, scarred moorish idol fish Gill. On his right side, Gill's fin had been practically destroyed, the result of a previous failed attempt at escaping from the tank. Nemo himself had a small and underdeveloped right fin, his 'lucky fin', and had learned from Gill that that was certainly no reason to stop him from being able to be independent and clever, a determined leader in his own right. Gill had explained to Nemo how to free himself from his predicament, and later, the same Gill had officially overseen a ceremony whereby Nemo had been officially welcomed into their gang, and given the Tank Name of Sharkbait. But Nemo's time in the tank had not been without danger, due to the niece of Doctor Sherman, Darla, a fish-killer, who had already been responsible for the death of a previous member of the Tank Gang, an orange fish named Chuckles. At Nemo's official welcoming ceremony, Gill had made it clear, with the enthusiastic consent from the other members of his gang, that they would not let that happen to Nemo.

Gill had been better than his word. Now Nemo was telling his enraptured audience about possibly Gill's bravest and most impressive act of heroism. Despite Gill's planning and scheming and his teaching Nemo how to swim down to avoid being caught in a net, Nemo had been taken from the tank, placed in a plastic baggie (well, that was what Gill called the strange, transparent bags that humans seemed keen to use to transport fish from one place to another), which had been shaken by Darla, in a manner that Nemo knew could easily kill him. Gill, with the help of the other members of the Tank Gang, had launched himself from the top of Mount Wannahockaloogie, the plastic volcano inside the tank, and onto Darla's hair, forcing the girl to reach up to her hair screaming, and dropping Nemo in the process. The baggie had broken, leaving Nemo vulnerable, exposed, outside of the safety of the protective water, and gasping for breath. Gill had been gasping for breath also, for he was equally as exposed and vulnerable. Nemo had wanted to thank him then, but had not known what to say, how to express his gratitude, had simply said Gill's name, hoping that it would be enough.

Perhaps it was.

Somehow, Gill had managed to leap onto Doctor Sherman's dentist's tools, launching Nemo into what he called a 'sink'. Gill had earlier explained that all drains led to the ocean, so Nemo had known that the scarred fish would be sending him back to the safety of the ocean, and eventually, back home to his Dad. "Sharkbait, tell ya Dad I said, 'Hi'! Go get 'em!" was the last thing that Gill had said to him, as he had sent Nemo on the long journey that would eventually lead to Nemo's freedom.

Nemo finished his tale, and watched the awed expression of his friends. "Wow," said Tad, "so what happened to Gill after that?"

Nemo merely smiled, "I suspect that he was fine, that Doctor Sherman just put him back in the tank again," he said.

"You mean that you don't know what happened to him?" asked Pearl, who had just inked in fear, despite having heard the tale numerous times before.

"Gill's tough," said Nemo, but with just tiny a hint of uncertainty in his voice, "it would take more than that to stop him!"

"Maybe," agreed Sheldon uncertainly, "but that would have been a lot, even for the toughest of fishes. I mean, he had a bad fin to begin with…" his voice trailed off as he looked at Nemo's underdeveloped right fin.

"That just makes him all the tougher!" Nemo insisted, but the uncertainty was beginning to rise within his tone, "I should know, having a bad fin is not enough to stop a fish like Gill, or me for that matter."

The others just looked at him in silence. Finally, Pearl said, "Yeah, of course," although she was sounding slightly uncertain now, "if Nemo's Dad can go all the way to Sydney to find Nemo, Gill could certainly survive something like that."

"Yeah," said Tad, but he also sounded uncertain.

"Yeah," said Sheldon also sounding uncertain.

"Yeah, of course," said Nemo, although his doubts were becoming greater by the minute. Gill was fine, had managed to survive that, surely? Why, even now, the scarred moorish idol was probably leading his little gang all the way to Nemo's home, his most recent plan to escape from the tank having gone off flawlessly at last. Yeah, Gill was fine and as tough as ever; it would take more than something like that to kill off a fish as tough as Gill…

…wouldn't it?