Swimming deeper into the ocean, Chuck and Fly noticed how there were hardly any fish around. There were only a few, but they all were just normal fish that aren't intelligent. Honey looked at the pair who looked confused as they looked around whilst swimming north.
"Is there something we should be worrying about?" Honey asked.
"Uh no, not at all. Why?" Fly answered a bit too quickly.
Honey could tell him and Chuck were a bit worried yet baffled at the same time. One brow raised in curiosity as she looked at the pair of them.
"Its just that when we were last down here, there was intelligent fish swarming everywhere. But now, there's hardly any fish to be seen." Chuck answered.
"Well doesn't that mean the antidote worked?" She questioned.
"Let's face it, they're smart. They've probably found a way to avoid the generator that's spreading the antidote around."
"In hiding you mean?" Fly asked.
"Could be, but they'd have to go pretty far down so it doesn't reach them. Most fish can't go that far down, so I don't see how that'd work."
"Never say never." Honey shrugged. "So... what happened with Joe? You know, when I nearly plunged to my death."
"Fly turned him back into a fish, he's in a tank now." Stella told Honey.
Honey looked at Fly relieved. Finally, he didn't have to worry about Joe anymore and neither did she. He smiled at her gently.
"I'm proud of you Fly, you're doing really well being a fish again." Honey praised him.
"Thank you. Well, I couldn't exactly say no. I wasn't going to lose you."
Chuck turned around quickly, as if he heard something swimming around them. Fly, Stella and Honey noticed this causing them to worry.
"Chuck, you ok?" Fly slightly panicked.
"Yeah... just thought I heard something."
The four of them stopped in their tracks as they swam through an empty reef as they listened to the eerie silence.
As Chuck turned around, an army of swordfish appeared from behind the rocks, scaring them. Fly pulled Honey and Stella behind him to shield them both, she held on to Fly and Stella in fear.
"Who are you? Why're you out in the open with a virus spreading?" One swordfish questioned aggressively.
"A virus? It's just antidote..." Fly slipped up without realising.
The swordfish were shocked, they didn't know that any other fish knew it was antidote. Then it clicked to them, they weren't fish. They were in fact humans. Two swordfish smirked devilishly at each other, before turning to the rest of their army.
"Let's not be so hasty towards these little guys, they're our guests. I'm sure the boss would love to meet you four." One of them spoke to their army then turning his attention to the others. "Follow us... I'm sure the boss would love to hear about what you know."
Chuck and Fly looked at each other with slight concern.
"Actually, we really need to get going." Honey explained, attempting to drag the boys away as she placed Stella on her back.
Before swimming away, the swordfish stopped them in their tracks with their sharp weapon.
"We insist." His tone turning cold, which was a sign to obey his command to follow them.
They gulped before looking at each other, following them.
They followed the swordfish to an abandoned ship that was on the sea floor. This ship was so familiar to Fly, Chuck and Stella.
"This was Joe's... is this being used as a hideout?" Fly whispered to Chuck.
"It must be... I can't see another reason why it'd be used if there's no leader."
"Honey, I'm scared... this was where we came before." Stella shivered.
"We're here, it's okay. Don't be scared Stella." Honey whispered to her.
Fly grabbed Honeys fin giving it a squeeze for reassurance as he could see she was on edge.
"I'm here, it's gonna be okay." He told her with a faint smile.
They swam inside the ship, which was full of intelligent fish. Silence filled the ship as they swam through the crowd, until a few spoke.
"It's them again."
"They're back."
"They've brought someone else too."
Anxiety made their hearts race, they were obviously here for a reason. They definitely knew who they were.
The swordfish led them into a huge, dark room with only a tiny bit of light that covered a half of the room.
"A few visitors, boss. They know about the antidote. Isn't that odd?" One swordfish spoke sarcastically to the other side of the room that was pitch black.
"Thank you, that'll be all." The voice replied.
The doors closed, leaving the four of them in the room with the voice in the dark.
"So... you know guys about the antidote. Isn't that odd, especially when I haven't seen you four in my life. Which only means one thing. Yet again, my followers know a lot about you. Especially after what happened to Joe."
Honey and Stella hid behind Fly and Chuck.
"Y-your followers?" Chuck asked.
"Why of course, someone had to take over. Then again, I didn't need an awful lot of potion to be intelligent and I don't need to crave more. Joe got greedy, quite pathetic of him actually. No wonder he died."
"Joe didn't die, sir." Honey spoke softly.
"Impossible, he couldn't of survived."
"Well he tried to kill me a few hours ago, so I should know if he was alive." She slightly joked.
The voice wasn't amused.
"So... is he dead now?"
"Um, no. But he's a fish again. An unintelligent one." Fly answered.
"Interesting. Why don't you introduce yourselves?"
"Umm I'm Fly, this is Stella my sister, Chuck my cousin and Honey my... best friend."
A large tentacle came out of the shadow, before revealing a large octopus along with an angler fish, a tiger shark and hammerhead accompanying him.
"Call me Reggie." He told them.
The four of them were shaking in fear, they looked absolutely terrifying. Even more than Joe and Shark ever were. This empire has evolved, only more dangerous than the last time.
"This is Spike." He pointed to the anglerfish, before pointing to the two sharks "Thats stripes and that's Ham. Pretty fitting names for their species."
"N-nice to meet you." Honey shook violently behind Fly.
"Pleasure." The sharks growled in sync.
"Anyways, it's been nice meeting you but uhhh we need to get going." Chuck nervously stuttered, before the four of them headed to the door.
"Now now, not so fast." Reggie growled, placing his tentacle against the door with a loud slam causing them to flinch. "Why would a bunch of humans want to become fish when you all have such high intelligence. Baffles me."
"W-we just wanted to come back, we missed the sea." Stella words stuttering as she held onto Fly and Honey.
"I highly doubt that little once, especially after such a traumatic time. Isn't that right Fly?" Reggie spat. "I know why you're here, I know why Joe attempted to kill you if he really was alive... it's the generator."
"We have no idea what you're talking about." Honey chuckled nervously as she held Flys hand.
"Oh I think you do, it's been destroyed and you've came back to reactivate it... Don't think you can come back here and ruin this empire." Reggie snapped.
Honey noticed there was a broken window from the corner of her eye big enough for them to escape. She also looked around in ways to distract them to escape, until she could see a chandelier holding on by just a link of a chain that could easily be broken.
"You three, I think you should teach them a lesson. Don't you think?" Reggie asked Spike, Stripes and Ham.
They laughed evilly, slowly swimming towards the four of them. Until Honey pushed the last link holding the old chandelier, making it crash down onto the three of them.
"Let's go, now, go!" Honey instructed, and they swam as fast as they could through the window.
Reggie attempted to get out of the window but although he could fit through anything, he couldn't get out of the small gap due to how much of a huge octopus he was.
"IDIOTS!" Reggie screamed from a distance.
Finally getting out of sight from the ship, they stopped in attempt to catch their breaths. They really needed to find this generator before it's too late.
"How can you get rid of these intelligent fish if they're that smart to hide..." Honey panted.
"We will have to lure them out, once we find the generator. One by one if we have to." Chuck replied.
Fly wrapped his fins around Honey, he could tell she was petrified. The sea wasn't the nicest place, especially when you're fish.
"Are you okay?" He asked her.
"Yes, I'm just a bit shaken."
"Come on guys, let's find somewhere to rest until the morning." Chuck instructed.
The three of them listened, following Chuck to find a place to camp.