"How much money do we have left?" Bea asked. Oscar quickly summed up their amount.

"Enough for up to dinner tonight." He concluded.

"Ugh, isn't there any sort of bus for this place?" Milo whined.

"We don't know, you're supposed to find that out." Bea commented.

"Oh yeah.About that. They have a daily schedule for the city bus and there's a desert at the far end of town, but the bus will only take us to here," Milo pointed to a spot on the map, "and we'd need to walk all the way to here. I estimate it'd take about a day or so to find where this old lady is." Milo explained.

"Hm…so we could knock our trip by a few days if we just take the bus." Oscar contemplated the situation.

"But do we have enough money for that?" He thought more. "Hm. If we lighten up on dinner tonight we might have enough for bus fare." He finished.

"So it's settled! Let's savor our walking and take the bus." Bea concluded.

When they found the bus and got on, however, they were surprised to find Shellsea, Fimberly and Koi standing in the doorway.

"G-guys! What…what are you doing here?" Bea asked nervously.

"We came looking for you…only to find you taking the bus. How convenient for us." Shellsea began.

"What happened to you guys?" Fimberly asked.

"We should ask the same question!"

"Alright, so the same thing happened to all of us and we're on the same quest to be turned back into fish."

"Hey, are you gonna get on the bus or not?" The bus driver asked, angry. Bea, Milo and Oscar found a seat with Shellsea, Koi and Fimberly and they discussed more on the situation.

"Look, girl, we need to talk."

"Okay, what about?" Bea asked.

"You and sweaty boy over there." Bea froze.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about..." Bea lied nervously.

"Yes you do. You like him, don't you." Shellsea continued.

"I-I don't…"

"Bea, skip the denial I know you do." Shellsea said, glaring at Bea. Bea was silent for a moment.

"Oh, alright, maybe I do! What about it?" Bea admitted.

"What about it? What about it? Do something about it! Come on, Bea, if you like him go get him."

Bea glanced ahead of her to see Oscar talking with Milo and back to Shellsea.

~…~

The six of them rode the bus to the end of its run at the end of town, which had taken a few hours due to the driver's numerous stops, and once they reached their destination, it had been a few hours and it was getting dark and they decided to call it a night. The girls took one hotel room and Milo and Oscar took another.

"Are you ever gonna tell Bea you like her? It's gonna kill you if you don't," Milo asked. Oscar sighed.

"I don't know if I can do it. I-I just don't think I could take the rejection. There's no way I have a chance with her. She's the prettiest girl in school and I'm just a socially awkward sweaty nerd boy who's hopes and dreams are way too big for his possibilities." Oscar explained sadly. He didn't want to believe it was true, but he knew there were no illusions around it. It was way too obvious.

"Bro don't be so negative! Dreams can come true if you just try. Heck, I'm a fish and I managed to fly. Anything is possible with a little elbow grease." Milo encouraged his brother.

"You think I have a chance?"

"There's always a possibility. Life's too short to say if."

~…~

"Okay girls, the night is still young! What do we do first?" Bea said.

"Oh, we should go around and tell each other our deepest, darkest secrets! It's a bonding exercise I learned!" Fimberly suggested. The girls agreed to it and they sat in a circle between the two beds.

"Okay, I'll go first since it was my idea." Fimberly began. "One time…and I've told no one this before…I…I stole ten bucks from my mom's purse to go shopping. I felt bad afterwards but I didn't say anything to anyone." She confessed.

"Your turn Koi!"

"Wah. Wah wah!"

"I don't actually know what a disco nap even is." Shellsea confessed. "Bea, your turn." Shellsea said, giving Bea a look that said 'you know what you need to say'. Bea swallowed nervously and looked around the group before speaking.

"I've never told another living soul before, but…" She paused.

"I…"

"I started my acting career with stage fright!" Bea blurted out. There was only a slight gasp, but it was nothing to be concerned about. Bea sighed in relief.

"Well, I think I'm going to get a good night's sleep girls, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow and I'd like to be nice and awake for it…" Bea said, sliding under the covers and pulling them over her head. Shellsea shook her head and followed the rest of the girls and went to bed as well.

~…~

The next day, the gang had gotten up and gotten ready for the day, and met in the lobby.

"Well, we're all here…I guess we should get going. It should be only a few minutes to get to our last bus stop. Do we have enough money left for ourselves?"

After confirming the question, they caught the city bus, which took them to a bus stop on the edge of town where the buildings eventually stopped and the desert began. Once the bus ride was over, they began their descent into the dry, sandy desert.

"Well, gang," Bea said with a nervous swallow, "this is it."

"We just have to cross the exact opposite environment from the fish tank and we can be transported back to the tanks as fish."

That's really the last I can squeeze into a chapter without ending the story too quickly. Poosh, now I have to lengthen the trip through the desert. I guess that's okay, then…aw, heck, I'm babbling to myself. Whatever, just review.