Disclaimer: Refer to "The Dogfish Sharks".

I've become a regular on the wiki and within five days, I'm already #4 on the leaderboard.

Anyway, I'd like to clarify now that this story will be a mix of stories structured like episodes (like the previous one), and stories that are just the crew hanging out. This story is of the latter variety. Note that stories that are primarily just the crew hanging out do not have Creature Reports.

BKPSDITTEKDL

"We're now entering the Wilkinson Basin," said Dashi, as the Octopod drove through the waters of the Gulf of Maine.

"Excellent, Dashi," said Captain Barnacles. "Steady as she goes."

Over on the other side of HQ, Deborah, Lekona, and the Vegimals were looking out the window, watching a school of fish swim about.

"That's a school of haddock," said Deborah. "Gloria from school saw them when her family went on vacation to the Bay of Fundy."

"I think that's a school of Atlantic cod," said Lekona. "See, they're all mottled."

"But they have a black thumbprint on their side," argued Deborah, annoyed, "so they're haddock."

"No way, those are too big to be haddock," said Lekona. "Haddock are only about a foot long. They're cod."

"Haddock can be up to three feet and seven pounds." Deborah pouted. All the while, the Vegimals chattered innocently.

"Tell you what." Lekona got up from the table. "I'll settle it with you over a pint."

"Lekona, she's under twenty-one, she can't drink here," said Captain Barnacles, matter-of-factly.

"Alright," said Lekona. He turned around and saw Shellington approaching them. "How 'bout you? You wanna settle it over a pint?"

"I'm under twenty-one too," he said, "and she's right. Those are haddock."

Deborah beamed and twitched her nose, feeling validated, and Lekona raised his eyebrows. "Really? Damn, I thought for sure you were twenty-three."

"No, I'm only twenty, but I'll be twenty-one in November." Shellington blushed and twitched his nose. He felt a little self-conscious about admitting how young he was, but he was a rule-follower and didn't want to break the law. "But it doesn't matter, because I don't drink period."

"Neither do I," said Deborah. "One time in Girl Guides, Gloria and I were volunteering as clean-up for the Highland Games Festival, and I swear, the entire field we were at smelled. Like. Beer. It stunk; figuratively and literally."

"I'm glad we see eye to eye on that," said Shellington, who was happy to know he wasn't alone in his refusal to consume alcohol. Deborah giggled.

"My god, you two are missing out." Lekona shook his head.

"I'm glad we dressed light," said Dashi. "This area is one of the world's fastest-warming ocean ecosystems."

"Global warming, eh?" Lekona shook his head. "Aw, that's a shame."

"They set up a climate center here," said Dashi, a bit annoyed about being interrupted. "They hope to educate others on ocean warming and help nearby communities deal with rising sea levels."

"Gloria from school started a clean-up campaign at our school after she came back from the Bay of Fundy," said Deborah. "She was really upset at all the trash everywhere."

"Good on her." Shellington slid into the seat next to her. "It's always nice to hear about people caring for sea life."

"When did you say your birthday was?" Deborah asked.

"Uh, November 20th," said Shellington. He was feeling a bit fluttery inside, being around Deborah. He then trailed off, focused instead on counting how many haddocks were in the school.

"Kid, you have the attention span of a moth." Lekona chuckled, twitching his nose. Shellington clenched his jaw and averted eye contact.

"Lekona, stop pissing people off," said Captain Barnacles without turning around.

Lekona, admitting defeat, got up to leave HQ, while Shellington was once again distracted as Tunip climbed into his lap. He pet his stem, which helped calm his nerves.

"I'm willing to take you up on that pint offer," said Kwazii. He and Lekona left just as Tweak entered.

"The climate center here aims also to increase public access to sea level rise data," said Dashi, hoping that maybe this time the others would listen.

"That's pretty useful," said Tweak, coming up behind Dashi. "At the speed this planet's warming, it might not be long before the nearby cities are basically swamps."

"Not to mention the increased and intensifying storms and precipitation," said Dashi.

"Gloria from school would always get so annoyed when she got her shoes wet," said Deborah. "She was always such a grouch during New Brunswick's flood season."

"Flood season?" Shellington cocked his head. "Do floods occur often where you're from?"

Deborah nodded. "Usually in April. All the snow is melting, and it's raining a lot, and then the river overflows. Sometimes it floods so much, our school bus had to take a different route."

"Buzzagodifway?" Tunip chattered.

"Yeah, our bus went a different way." Deborah fiddled with one of her pigtails. "I think at least one bus had to be cancelled altogether. I heard the rumour from-"

"Let me guess; Gloria from school?" Captain Barnacles asked, having heard the name at least a dozen times since Deborah had first arrived on the Octopod.

Deborah looked at him. "No, Mabel."

Captain Barnacles' eyes widened. He sighed and shook his head. "I can't keep track of all these damn friends of yours…"

BKPSDITTEKDL

Info about the Gulf of Maine taken from Wikipedia and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute

Info about haddock and Atlantic cod taken from NOAA Fisheries

Confirmation on whether or not haddock live in the Bay of Fundy taken from Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Body language tips taken from Betterhelp

Info about New Brunswick's flood season taken from GNB and personal experience (I'm from New Brunswick)