Author Notes - So I know I said that the final chapter of this story would focus on Zooli, but there's been a change of plans. I'll be writing an entirely separate short story focusing on Zooli's first day of school, showing how she dealt with being a newbie while also having to deal with the reaction from the fans. So, for this story, I went down a very different route.

CHAPTER SIX - THE MORE THINGS CHANGE…

'What are we gonna call ourselves? Every good band needs a good name!'

'I have a great name! How about... the Bubble Guppies? It's the name of our first song, and I think it suits us really well. What do you guys think?'

'That's a fantastic name!'

'Don't ya mean a... fin-tastic name?'

'I bet we could write songs about everything! Like colours, or dinosaurs, or cowgirls, or bugs, or cats, or dogs, or elephants! And princesses, and clothes, and gemstones, and emotions, and-'

'One at a time, Oona! I'm sure we'll get to all those songs sooner or later.'

'Well, what are you guys waiting for? We still have a couple hours of the day left. Let's get started now!'

ABOUT TWENTY YEARS LATER...

'Are we there yet? … Are we there yet? … Are we there now? … How about now?'

Molly giggled. 'Amanda, have a little more patience.'

The pink-haired Guppy may have been able to control her friends, but sometimes it felt like her youngest daughter was even more trouble than the other six Guppies combined. How lucky, it seemed, that the twins weren't nearly as much of a handful as the little one was.

The only boy among the three children chuckled. 'What do you expect? She's got Dad for a father.'

Gil flashed his son a (fake) look of annoyance. 'Hey, we don't need that snarky attitude at school, Danny.'

The middle child rolled her eyes. 'Dad, I don't think he can stop.'

'I don't think so either, Sandra.'

Molly and Gil hadn't changed much over the last twenty or so years, aside from Molly wearing her hair in a simple ponytail now. Out of all of their friends, they had gotten married first to no one's surprise. Daniel was the first kid and only boy they had, and Sandra ended up being his somewhat unexpected twin. They both had pink hair and green camo tails, but Daniel had brown eyes while Sandra's were blue. Only about a year later, they had their second daughter Amanda. Unlike her older siblings, she had short blue hair and a blue swirly tail, though she did have her mother's brown eyes.

To those wondering where Mia was, she was alive and well and just too busy to come with today. Babysitting was hard work, after all! Growing up, it felt strange and sometimes alienating to be the younger sister of a much more popular singer, but her parents never treated her like the 'unfavourite' so she grew up happily. She was yet to have any kids of her own even though she really wanted to, but she had recently been dating a lovely Guppy boy, so that was bound to change. But, until then, her nieces and nephew were more than good enough!

Amanda 'jumped' onto her father's shoulders. 'ComeoncomeonCOMEON! We gotta be getting closer now!'

'The more you complain,' Daniel remarked. 'The longer it'll take us to get there.'

'Hey, don't be like that!' Sandra said. 'We're ALL excited to go!'

The family travelled down the same path that Molly and Gil first went on all those years ago, albeit not on purpose. Of course, it wasn't exactly the same path, since some things had changed over the twenty-odd years. The path that was once mostly nature now had many more residential houses alongside the lovely path, and a proper road spanned a large chunk of the distance. After all, Bubbletucky had become a lot more famous for being the birthplace of the Bubble Guppies.

Which is why it was a bit of a shame that the band no longer existed. One could still drive down to the newest music shop to buy the still-very-popular albums, but they weren't making music together anymore. Life had simply got in the way. Molly had followed the career on her own, doing fairly successfully as a solo artist, albeit one who was carried by her past stint as a Bubble Guppy. Gil, on the other hand, had pursued a much more action-packed career: a firefighter! You know, for those nasty underwater fires. Both had to work quite hard to find time today to take their kids to school.

'Hey Amanda,' Gil said to the little girl on his shoulders. 'Can you see the school from here? It looks a lot like the top of Aunt Deema's hair.'

Amanda looked over the horizon like a pirate at sea, and gasped. 'I see it... I SEE IT! We're almost there!'

Indeed, there it was, not too far away in front of them. It was almost a miracle that out of all the buildings to survive the decades, it was their school. Perhaps that was only because it was the school of the popular preschool band, but how could the Guppies complain? It seemed almost too appropriate to send their kids to the same school they once went to.

'Remember Daniel,' Molly said to her only son. 'You're in charge of your sisters, since you're the oldest.'

Daniel's eyes widened. 'I'm in charge? I mean, Sandra's easy enough, but how is anyone supposed to take care of Amanda?'

'Hey!' Amanda cried, glaring down at him. 'I'll give you hard to take care of!'

'And besides,' Sandra said with a giggle. 'I'm only a couple of minutes younger. I'll work with you to keep her under control.'

'HEY!'

As they approached the front door, they came to the realisation that - once again - they had failed to arrive there first. Well, some things never changed. They knew they were late when they saw someone already waiting for them just outside the door.

'Auntie Molly! Uncle Gil!'

It was a little Guppy girl, a little younger than the twins. With her yellow afro and delightful blue eyes, it was unmistakable who her mother was, and her purple-and-blue tail made her father quite clear too. The moment she saw the five Guppies approaching, she zipped over to them in the blink of an eye and embraced Gil's tail almost tight enough to cut off blood circulation.

'Uh, hi there, Joyvita!' Gil said, waving her hello.

Only Deema could've had a child with such a name, created because she thought 'Jovita' was spelt like 'joy' and that it was perfect for her daughter. Speaking of which, the curly-haired mother emerged from the front door with her husband and son by her side.

'AYYYY, Molly!' She greeted, already proving that she was still quite the fool. 'Gil, my man!'

Goby settled with a simple wave. 'Hi Molly! Hi Gil!' He knelt down just a little. 'And hello to you little ones, too!'

The young boy, not nearly as outgoing as his older sister, just waved a little. 'Uh, hi.'

Deema had hardly changed through the years at all. She never dropped that crazy hairstyle, partially because it was like that naturally but also because it was too iconic to lose. It was quite the miracle that she was able to come to school today, seeing as she was recently cast in a high-action movie and needed to get ready pretty soon. After all, 'Deema Swimmer' was quite a big name in the acting industry now!

Goby, on the other hand, had gone down a more simple path. Construction was tempting to go into for the longest time, but geology called his interest instead. Something about rocks and how they were formed intrigued him, and come a couple decades he was an official geologist.

The little boy by his side was their son Daviro. He was only about a year younger than Joyvita and slightly older than Amanda, and appeared to be her 'opposite' appearance-wise. His hair was indigo like his father's, but he had his mother's curls, and he got his bright brown eyes from his father too. The orange speckled tail, however, could only come from his mother.

'Joyvita!' Amanda cried.

The youngest of Molly and Gil's kids hopped off her father's back and gave Joyvita a big strong high-five. Both girls had to shake the pain out of their hands after a high-five that powerful. The twins approached Daviro with smiles, but he backed away from them just a little. Even though his nerves were getting to him, he still tried to give them a genuine smile.

'Lemme guess.' Gil said. 'We got here last. Again.'

Deema giggled. 'Yep! Oh, some things never change, do they?'

'The others are already waiting for you inside.' Goby said. 'Come on!'

Both families entered the old school together, and the adults were hit with a wave of nostalgia. The school hardly changed much over the twenty-odd years, but there were some differences. The walls were covered in way more drawings now, thanks to Mr Grouper refusing to take down any drawings no matter how old. Goby could barely see his old drawing of him and Deema on that wall anymore, and the colour of it had faded quite a bit, but it was still there and clear as day.

The books had changed, since Mr Grouper wanted to keep up with the times, though a few absolute classics remained. The names of the cubbies had obviously changed too, and there were a few more as well. Other than that, it hardly changed at all.

As the front door slid open, both families could see another friend of theirs waiting in the middle of the classroom. It was none other than Nonny, holding the hand of his son and only child. The young boy looked mostly like his mother - and you know exactly who she was - except his short hair was orange and his eyes were green. He, just like his father, had goggle-shaped glasses covering his eyes, though his were pink. The little pink star he wore on his neck resembled a bow-tie.

Unlike the other adult Guppies, who had worn their usual get-up of… erm, nothing, Nonny had donned his work uniform. Which was just a dusty old brown shirt that he could afford to get dirty. He was an archeologist now, and so was around dirt all the time. Luckily for him, his dirt allergy was easily solved by an inhaler that he kept around just for the job.

'Nonners!' Deema called. 'Oh, it's a treat to see you and your boi here today!'

Nonny flashed them a quick smile. 'Hello.' He said, as monotone as ever. 'Say hi, Kiyoshi.'

His son, meanwhile, waved with both hands. 'Hiya, guys!'

Daviro blushed a little, for he could've sworn the boy was waving directly at him. Kiyoshi made him feel something special, though he wasn't entirely certain what it was.

'Where's Auntie Oona?' Sandra asked.

Kiyoshi laughed. 'Doncha know what Momma's job is? She-'

'Remember, Kiyoshi!' Molly said. 'We all agreed we'd keep it a secret.'

The young boy chuckled. 'Oh, right!'

Nonny and his son weren't the only ones in the giant room. See, it wasn't just the six offspring of our favourite Guppies who were going to the school this year. While everyone waited for the teachers (yes, more than one) to arrive, Zooli kept the other students busy by showing them the new class pets. One was Poppy, a young puppy who was one of many from Bubbles, who happened to be one of Bubble Puppy's own daughters from the litter he had with Dottie, the firefighter dog. The other was a little ginger tomcat named Tommy, who was one of several grandsons of Bubble Kitty.

Alas, there was bound to be some losses after so long. Many of the animals the Guppies used to love - like Charlie and Fernando - simply couldn't live long enough to see this day. Most unfortunately, Bubble Puppy and Bubble Kitty were among those tragic losses. Still, both had families, and their litters still live on.

'Handle them carefully, kids!' Zooli said, kneeling on the floor. 'Animals can be quite touchy!'

Zooli had with her three other students, unrelated to herself or the other adult Guppies. She wasn't the only one watching over them, for her wife - a lovely Guppy by the name of Bindi, an immigrant from the Land Down Under, with dark turquoise hair and a patchy blue tail - watched over them too.

See, Zooli had quite the adventurous life. After spending her teenage years as an assistant zookeeper, she decided to go out into the wild around the whole world. She met her wife Bindi while searching through the Australian outback. Ever since then, they became quite the duo who would make Steve Irwin proud (appropriate, since he was Zooli's childhood icon). The fact that they had the time to stop by the school was a miracle, seeing how busy their lifestyle typically was. In just a few days, they had a trip to the Amazon to go on. That was why neither of them adopted or anything like that: they knew they were too busy for children.

Tommy found himself in the arms of Bonita, a little girl with short green hair and a striped yellow tail whose family recently moved in from Brazil. She had that little kitty in her arms, just tight enough to annoy him but not actually hurt him.

'You're a good kitty!' Bonita cried, hugging him just a little tighter.

Tommy could certainly breathe just fine, but he still had that look on his face that said 'I will hurt you tonight', a look many cat owners are familiar with. Poppy, on the other fin, was having a much better time. She did a whole bunch of tricks - roll over, backflip, play dead, and the like - to a couple of boys, who applauded her the whole way. The slightly-older of the two boys was Neptune, who had long blood-red hair and a checkerboard maroon tail.

'Betcha can't catch this one!' He said.

He tossed a Bubble Bite at Poppy, and she snatched it out of the air with an impressive backflip. She received applause from Endler, the boy with short cyan hair and a simple pink tail.

'Well well well…' Endler said with a smirk. 'Looks like she could catch it. Maybe you should throw just a liiittle harder next time.'

Oh, and Endler happened to be in a wheelchair, thanks to an accident a while back that resulted in him being unable to swim like most other Guppies. The adults and the other kids were well aware of his wheels, but no one paid them any mind unless they absolutely had to.

It was a little funny, actually, to think about how much more popular the town was with Guppies now. Before, they were no doubt the rarest species in Bubbletucky, with the seven Bubble Guppies and their own families being the only ones. Now, the popularity of the old band had led to some more Guppies moving to their glorious little town, including Stylee when she decided to settle down a little more.

'Alright mates,' Bindi said, clapping her hands. 'Class is gonna start soon, so we should be getting ready for the teachers!'

The three kids all let out disappointed moans, for they didn't want to stop playing with the pets just yet, but none of them were ones to disobey the school rules. So, Bonita said goodbye to Tommy and Neptune put the box of Bubble Bites aside, and both kids swam to their spots in the middle of the classroom. Zooli pushed Endler's wheelchair along right behind them and 'parked' him in a spot reversed just for him, hardly able to contain her excitement for when the teacher arrived.

'OOH, we're sitting down already?!' Joyvita asked, bouncing up and down like an out-of-control spring. 'Come on, guys! LET'S GO!'

The young girl - who truly couldn't be the daughter of anyone else - took her spot right next to Endler. She leaned up against his wheelchair for a moment, before she leaned away and blushed when she realised what she was doing.

Daniel grinned like a superhero, and waltzed over to the meeting spot with as much self-confidence as his little body could take. 'Just so everyone knows, I'm the oldest of this class. Only a couple minutes older than my little sister Sandra, but still. So if the teacher's out, I'm the one you listen to.'

Sandra rolled her eyes, and followed right after him. 'Like you said, I'm only a couple minutes younger. And we are twins, so we oughta be co-leaders.'

Before they could take a seat, Amanda zoomed past them fast enough to send Sandra to the floor, and planted herself in the middle of the left side.

'You're gonna have to go faster than that to beat me!' She declared, puffing out her chest. 'And that's the same for all of you!'

The twins simply chuckled at their little sister, and took their seats right next to her on both sides. It seemed appropriate for the three of them to stick together through thick and thin, or even Amanda doing her own thing. Neptune sat right next to Daniel, and they both exchanged a quick fist-bump.

Daviro took a deep breath, and looked back at his parents for support. Their reassuring smiles gave him the confidence to swim forward into the crowd and take a seat right next to his big sister. She wrapped her arm around his neck almost tight enough to choke him, and if it was anyone else he would've thrown them off and ran away.

'Can ya believe it, bro?' Joyvita asked. 'You and me together, in school! The same school Mommy and Daddy used to go to too! You think I'll become as famous as Mommy?'

'M-Maybe.' Daviro replied. 'I hope I don't. I don't think I could handle it the same way you and Mommy do.'

Kiyoshi, in contrast to his father who always arrived first, was the last to take his seat in the room. He did a quick back-flip in the water before he sat between Bonita and Daviro, partially to show off but mostly just to get out a little bit of excitement first. After all, he was the only kid in that class who knew who the teacher was, and if he didn't get out the excitement he may have blurted that amazing secret out for everyone to hear.

Molly couldn't believe it. It already felt amazing enough when she watched her little sister Mia go to this school for the first time years and years ago, but now that it was with her own children it felt so much more magnificent. She held onto Gil's hand, hardly able to contain the wonderful feelings she had in this moment. Judging by the light reflecting off his eyes, her beloved husband was no different.

Even thinking about that gave her some truly great feelings. She had felt some sort of spark the day she met Gil, but she never would have thought that he would be her future husband, and the father to her kids. The fans - who had been shipping them together since almost the beginning - definitely got this one right, and she couldn't imagine how excited they must've been to know they were not only married now, but had three adorable kids to call their own. How the both of them kept it together was a miracle. Most of them managed to reign their emotions in.

'I'M SO-O-O-O HA-A-A-A-PP-EE-EEEEEEE!'

Unsurprisingly, Deema was the one exception. Unable to handle the sight of seeing her own son and daughter being old enough to attend the same school she went to, she had collapsed into a storm of wailing and snivelling. 'Collapsed' being literal, seeing as she had fallen and was now crying her eyes out onto the floor.

Some things really didn't ever change, did they?

Goby rolled his eyes and lifted her off the floor by her shoulders, revealing her to be a mess of tears and mucus. 'Let's try to keep ourselves together, alright?'

'I AM TRYING!' She wailed back.

The students sat around in waiting to meet their teacher, who most of them had assumed would be Mr Grouper. As they were about to find out, they were only half right.

Amanda could hardly stand still. 'Come on! When's Teach gonna get here? It's already been forever!'

'It's only been about a minute.' Endler quipped. 'Can you really not wait that long?'

Daniel rolled his eyes. 'Oh, you have no idea.'

'I can wait!' Joyvita said. 'Just sitting here is fun enough!'

Kiyoshi had to try extra hard to make sure he didn't spoil the secret before the big reveal, but luckily he did not have to wait much longer. In just a few moments, the teacher finally arrived from her spot in the teacher's lounge. Yes, her. Most of the class's jaws dropped. Bonita, Neptune, and Endler didn't quite understand how shocking this was, and Kiyoshi already saw this coming, but the other five students couldn't believe their eyes.

'Good morning, everyone!' The teacher greeted, waving to every single one of her students. 'I'm Oona, but you can call me Ms Takahashi.'

'Hi, Momma!' Kiyoshi said, waving back to her.

Other than Kiyoshi - who was obviously well aware of his mother's job - all the kids of our beloved Bubble Guppies couldn't believe it! Oona, or Ms Takahashi, was not just their 'honorary aunt' but in fact their teacher! Unlike many kids, who may not like this, Kiyoshi couldn't be happier to know that their teacher was his mother. It felt a little prestigious, and it would (of course) make him the 'favourite' of sorts among the students. It was win-win for him!

'Wait!' Joyvita yelled. 'Hold the presses! … Auntie Oona is gonna be our teacher?!'

'That's so nice!' Sandra said, clapping.

Daviro sighed in relief. 'Oh thank goodness… someone who I actually know.'

All Oona ever wanted, since she was a little girl, was to help out everyone around her. The other Guppies had good ideas of what they wanted to be, but Oona was the one exception, as some Bubble Guppies fans may have noticed. The only thing she wanted out of a career was something that would help out other people. So many choices enticed her: doctor, vet, repairwoman, therapist… but out of all them, being a teacher spoke to her the most. Why did she choose to be a preschool teacher, specifically? To her, it was the most important time for a kid to have support. No doubt it was because Mr Grouper had been such a wonderful teacher himself.

Speaking of which…

'Well, good morning everyone!'

Oona was not the only teacher here today. The teacher most familiar and most beloved to our Guppies emerged from the teacher's lounge soon after her, and even Kiyoshi didn't see this one coming. The class gasped at once, for they had heard that this teacher was one of the greatest of all time.

'Class, meet Mr Grouper.' Oona said. 'He'll be assisting me in teaching you all. After all, this class is already a little big, and I expect to have even more students arriving in the near future!'

Mr Grouper hadn't changed much in the years, probably because he was already an adult to begin with. Obviously, this meant he aged quite a bit more than his students. His usual bright orange colour had dulled just a little through the years, and he had rather noticeable wrinkles. Of course, no amount of age could make him seem any less friendly. If anything, the signs of age made him look even nicer, like your grandmother who always bakes you cookies whenever you visit her.

'You're kinda old!' Bonita said, without really thinking about it. 'Shouldn't you, like, be retired or something?'

Mr Grouper took her comments in stride, and laughed. 'Oh, not yet. I won't retire until my bones completely give up, and they haven't given up yet. It's been too fun of a ride to get off now. And now, I'm teaching the children of my past students for the first time ever. I was not going to let this opportunity pass me by.'

Now that they were more than certain that their children were in good hands, all of our beloved Guppies - except for Oona, obviously - bade their goodbyes to their kids and left for work. They were adults now, after all, and adult life came with jobs for anyone who was able to work. Not to mention that most of them had kids to raise, and that took money. And even Zooli and Bindi, who had no kids of their own, had to get home to pack for their Amazonian trip - you cannot even imagine how much bug-spray you need when exploring that rainforest.

'I think we should start with an introduction!' Oona said. 'We'll go around the room, and say our names and maybe a little bit about us. But don't feel pressured to say anything if you don't want to. My husband was a little shy himself, you know. So, who wants to begin?'

'I should begin.' Daniel said, puffing out his chest. 'I am the oldest one in this class, you know.'

Sandra rolled her eyes. 'Yeah, by about two minutes.'

Daniel ignored her remark, and stood up from his spot so everyone in the class would pay attention to him.

'Hey guys.' He said, in his best cool-guy voice. 'I'm Daniel, son and oldest kid of Molly and Gil. I'm sure you've heard of them. I have to keep my younger sisters under control. Favourite colour is pink, without any doubt, and I really like drawing. And I'm definitely Auntie Mia's favourite.'

This remark got him looks from his sisters, and he just smirked at them. He sat down, and - after rolling her eyes again - Sandra sat up.

'And I'm Sandra, his twin sister.' She said. 'Younger by only a few minutes, as he will gladly forget to mention. My favourite colour is purple, and I like gardening.'

'OH OH OH!' Joyvita yelled, standing up. 'Me next, me next!' She cleared her throat. 'Heeey! I'm Joyvita. I couldn't possibly choose a favourite colour, since they're all so fabulous. There's a lot of things I like, but what I really love is playing pretend. Some day, I'm gonna be a famous actress, just like Mommy!'

Before anyone else could jump in, she wrapped an arm around her brother and brought him in close. All he could do was awkwardly smile and wave.

'Uh… h-hi.' He said.

'And this is my little bro, Daviro!' Joyvita continued. 'He loves the colour orange, and what he really likes is cooking stuff! Seriously, this guy makes the best cookies you will ever taste. Oh, and he's kinda shy. Like, really shy. So I'll have to do all the talking stuff. You okay with that, bro?'

He nodded. 'Y-Yep. M-My sister Joyvita must've gotten all the confidence between us.'

His little joke got the entire class, including the teacher and her assistant, to laugh along. It helped Daviro feel a little more confident. Just a little, yes, but a little went a long way for someone like him.

'And that's alright!' Oona said. 'A lot of beloved and famous people in the world are shy. And even if you don't become famous, there's nothing wrong with being shy. Just ask my husband. Now, who's going next?'

'Hey guys!' Neptune yelled, before anyone else could. 'I'm Neptune, just like the Greek god! … I think he was Greek, at least. Anyway, I love the colour blue, and I think I'm the best sports player in this whole room. I dare ya to beat me in a game.'

Amanda narrowed her eyes and gave Neptune a nasty stink eye, silently demanding a match. He returned the exact look, seemingly agreeing to an unspecified match later that day.

'Olá!' Bonita said, waving to the whole class. 'That's how you say 'hello' where my parents come from. My favourite colour might be cyan, but I really like scarlet too! And I LOOOVE animals!'

'I love animals too, Bonita!' Oona said. 'Now, who's next?'

Amanda saw the opportunity, and seized it as quickly as she could. She didn't just stand up out of her seat, but dashed into the middle of the room and almost demanded that everyone pay her full attention.

'Name's Amanda!' She said, grinning. 'And I may be the youngest in the class - from what I know - but I bet that I'm still the toughest, roughest kid you'll ever meet! You really don't wanna mess with me, because if you, you're in for a bad time. Don't you dare get me started, because you'll find that one I get started, ain't nobody gonna-!'

'Boo!' Sandra yelled, giggling.

'AHHHH!'

Amanda, much her father used to it would seem, jumped backwards as far as her body could carry her, plopping rather unceremoniously onto her tail upon the ground. Blush was visible on her cheeks, and the rest of the students couldn't help laughing. She glared at every single one of them, but any attempt she was making at being threatening was undercut by her inability to stop giggling.

'Alright, so I'm not completely unstoppable.' She said, sitting back down and pouting. 'So maybe I'm a liiittle jumpy.'

Daniel laughed. 'A little? You scream whenever your door creaks open just a little!'

'DO NOT!'

'Well, you know what they say.' Endler remarked. 'The bigger their egos, the harder they fall.'

He got a laugh out of almost everyone - except for Amanda herself, who just pouted some more - and now everyone was looking at him. Seeing as he had already gotten their attention, he decided that he might as well go next.

'So, my name is Endler.' He said. 'My favourite colour is green, and I really like writing stuff. Oh, and I've got a neat set of wheels that help me get around the place.'

He gave his wheels a nice pat, like they were his dog or riding horse, and the other kids 'ooo'ed and 'ahhh'ed at his sweet ride. Of course, none of them really questioned his use or need for wheels, since by this point wheelchairs were completely normalised (we can only hope, at least).

'And that leaves me!' Kiyoshi said. 'I'm Kiyoshi, the son of our wonderful teacher. Now, I like a lotta things. Like, a lot of things. But what I love most of all is meeting new people and making friends!'

'There's a lotta new friends here!' Bonita cried. 'We can all be friends, right?'

'If you can keep up with me, sure.' Amanda snarked, before Daniel gave her a light shove. 'HEY!'

'W-We can take this all slowly, right?' Daviro asked.

Oona giggled. 'I don't have any doubts that we'll all become good friends, even if it takes a little while. And I promise to be the greatest teacher you'll ever have!' She paused. 'Well, that won't be possible. No one could ever be as good a teacher as Mr Grouper.'

At this, Mr Grouper blushed; though, in all honesty, he may have been reddening his cheeks on purpose just for comedic effect. It worked, because it got almost everyone in the class laughing. Oona, too, giggled just like she did when she was young. With his little joke out of the way, Mr Grouper waited until the laughter died down and grabbed onto Oona's hand with both his fins.

'Oona, I know you'll be a better teacher than me.' He said.

Oona blushed a little. 'O-Oh, Mr Grouper, that isn't-'

'I mean it. I would consider myself a failure of a teacher if my students didn't grow up to be something greater than I ever could. It was easy for the others, since they all became something I didn't, but you chose to be a teacher. But, despite that, I know you'll be better than me. And that's a good thing. That is what I want. So don't go saying you won't be as good as me, because you'll be even better.'

If it was just between her and her old teacher, Oona may have cried tears of joy. But she had a class to teach, and getting all emotional with her assistant may have been an odd way to start the day. So, she took the wonderful speech in stride and faced her students once again.

'I hope you're all excited for school!' She said. 'And if you're not, that's fine too. But, before we get started, I think we should go over our routine first.'

'Roo… who?' Joyvita asked, in a manner very similar to her mother.

'See, a routine is…' Kiyoshi replied. 'It's like a series of things you do, in order, that you do regularly!'

Oona giggled - she'd expect nothing less from her husband's son. 'Exactly, sweetie! Now, every day, we'll meet here and talk about the topic of the day. And then…'

There isn't much need to see the rest of the story, since it's much like the story before it. Oona introduced her new students (and son) to the routine, one very familiar to her. Joyvita ran a shop, where Endler was her rather-exasperated assistant who kept the store running. Bondita and Sandra bonded over telling crazy stories, while Daviro served them all some delectable cookies. Kiyoshi helped his mother lead the field trips, dropping all sorts of wonderful fun facts. Neptune and Amanda, meanwhile, wouldn't stop competing with each other and constantly tying in every sport they played.

And that's how it was every day. Until, inevitably, they left that school and went into higher education. They would go on to grow up, and some of them would have kids of their own. Sound familiar? The more things change, the more they stay the same... so, there's no need to detail this next generation too much longer.

Life may go on, but stories do not.

THE END

Author Notes - Indeed, instead of focusing on Zooli, I decided to jump about a couple of decades and look at the Guppies' children starting school! Like always, I made up my own kids without using anyone else's, i.e. Lilly, Luke, Ryohei and Reni from Amberstone12's Happily After the After. At some point, I'll post their designs into my Deviantart account. In the odd chance that anyone reading this wants to use said offspring, you are welcome too! Provided you credit me, obviously.

The other three kids were completely made-up just to make the classroom feel more full. Bonita and Endler are both named after fish related to Guppies (the latter being known as Endler's Guppy, since they breed together often), while Neptune is named after the God of the Sea. I won't deny that the choice to have Endler be in a wheelchair was partially inspired by ReaderandWriter9000's wheelchair-bound OC Urchin from his Teen Years series.

The futures I came up with for the Guppies were based on what certain episodes implied their future careers might be, though I made Oona the teacher because I thought it would be neat. I might make more stories focusing on adult Guppies, but only time will tell.