Disclaimer:

"Dot, I've told many times. It's not nice to offend someone, especially strangers."

"It's all about first impressions, man!"

" . . . Well, yes, you quite made an impression."

At this moment, the Muses drift into the screen. They seem to be arguing about something, which is not unusual for them. I like conflicts. Don't you? Anyway . . . The Regal Blue Tang appears weary, his heavy-lidded eyes narrowed in irritation. The Damselfish follows after, looking slightly bored with the silly arguments.

"Honestly, I can't believe you," JC rubs his forehead. "I often wonder how come I got stuck with you."

"You're just lucky," Dot grins, giving him one of her friendly slaps. She then frowns when JC doesn't smile back. "Besides, it's not like you to complain."

The narrowed eyes shift toward her. "You affected me."

She rolls her eyes and gestures a fin upward. "If you're so upset about this, why won't you ask Mademoiselle?"

JC thinks about it, and then nods. "Then that's what I will do."

Dot stays here as JC swims out of the screen. Her face holds amusement, mixed with slight disbelief, when JC pulls in a gigantic gong, rolled on wheels. Don't ask me how and where he keeps the gong. He darts out, then brings in a gong stick. He spits on his fins, rubs them together, and picks up the stick. Dot wisely covers her ears.

GOOOOOONNNNNGGGGGGG!

laksh;oiqwhndovilaishrl ---!

As the water steadies after the violent tremble, a voice speaks out from somewhere, seen only in textual because you can't hear me from reading this, right?

JAMES CLAUDE! Stop it! You know I hate drums!

JC leans on the stick. "It's a gong."

Same difference! Now . . . what do you need?

He jerks a fin over his shoulder to Dot. "I'd like to know a reason why you made me stay with her."

She's annoying, right?

"Yes!"

"Hey!"

She's your partner. Deal with it.

The Blue growls.

Look, you two wanted to do the disclaimers from the start and you will definitely finish them until the end together. Now, I believe it's time for the disclaimer to start. Don't make the readers wait.

GGGOOOOOOONNNNNGGGGGG!

akjshdfaiuwoeirtjhlkasd -- . . . .

JC tosses away the stick, unhappy about his misfortunate. Dot swims to him and tugs on his fin to get his attention. "Angry, already?" A bitter glare answers her. "Tell you what. We can get our sweet revenge on her."

He looks at her eager grin, then shakes his head, calming down. "Tempting, but alas, no."

"Why not?"

"She's the Author. She knows everything happening in here. If we manage to trick her, she'd already know, and our revenge wouldn't be that sweet. It's ridiculous and useless to do anything like that while she's writing this."

Dot gives him a blank stare, then groans, holding her head. "My head hurts."

"Not mentioning mine," JC mumbles, again rubbing his forehead.

Start the disclaimer!

The Blue bristles and turns to you, his aflame red eyes filling the screen. "Guppies! We do not own 'Finding Nemo'! Pixar does! Now SCRAM!"

"JC, what did you say about being rude to readers . . .?"

"Bite me!"

Dot shrugs, shaking her head, as her friend storms off. "Don't mind him, guppies. He can be sensitive, sometimes."

Chapter Four: The Abyss

"Nemo . . . Nemo . . ."

"Are you going to eat that . . . ?"

Everything was so calm, so quiet in his mind and around him. There was no sense of worry, no sense of danger at all and that soothed him. He would be very content to continue his undisturbed sleep, be peaceful in the calm surroundings, if that annoying spark of misery would just go away. It was faint and distant, but it was there, somewhere in his mind, pulsating with an urgency. It was pushing him from the peaceful sleep toward his consciousness. Very slowly, he became aware of being inside something small and a body near him, feeling heat from it. Then he heard a voice. A sleepy, lightly snoring voice, but a familiar one.

"Careful with that hammer . . ."

His eyelids fluttered, then opened. Drowsily, Marlin regarded the face of a Regal Blue Tang close up, also sleeping. At first, he didn't recognize the face, but the dark freckles on the nose, the absent look even in sleep, were unmistakable. 'Dory?' He blinked, puzzled at the sensation of being floated, but he wasn't being floated on his own. He glanced down, and his heart stopped.

Darkness. Some kind of pit was below him, looking so far yet so near, filled with solid darkness. Marlin gasped with fear of being so close to darkness and he hurried out of the platform that he was laying on. He was surprised to see that it was the Diver's mask with Dory still sleeping on one of the lens. The mask was hanging on some metal which was hanging from the Submarine. The Submarine itself was balanced delicately on a slope, its nose dangerously tipped toward the pit. The Submarine . . . Marlin couldn't believe his luck. After all the explosions from the mines and the escape from the Sharks, he was still alive. He and Dory were still alive.

Now what was he going to do . . . ? Nemo! His son was gone and he needed to find him! Marlin gazed up to the mask's strap. Human markings. He couldn't read human, but Dory can. He needed to get her awake and read it as soon as possible.

"A sea monkey has my money," she was mumbling when Marlin swam back. He shook her, then when she drowsily shooed him away, he became annoyed. He can't delay any longer! He will get this heavy sleeper awake in no time if he can help it! He stopped shaking her and went under the mask, seeing her face through glass. She again mumbled, "Yes, I'm a Natural Blue."

"Get up!"

The scarlet eyes popped open and Dory gasped. With amazing speed, she shot upward, the mask still hanging on her back, and she yelled, glaring, "Look out! Sharks eat fishes! Ahh!"

Marlin hastened to calm her before a predator could hear her, then both froze at a new sound. A deep, resounding sound rumbled through the water and through their bodies. Simultaneously, they turned around. The Submarine had been stuck fragilely on the rock, but by Marlin's shakes upon Dory, it lost balance. It slowly slid off the rock. Its nose continued in tipping - toward them.

The fishes screamed and sped away. They were too frightened to think that they were still in the way, didn't think to escape out the sides. Marlin blindly flapped his tail, the dimness darkening his sight. Dory wasn't blinded by the dimness, but she had the strap covering her eyes, and so thus blinded. Finally, she removed the strap as Marlin sharpened his vision. Both screamed as they screeched into a stop near a blockage of rock in front. The nose came closer in inches and they shut their eyes, waiting for the impact.

Silt burst where the nose rammed into the rock. Surprisingly, the nose stayed there. The Submarine was now safely positioned, no longer a threat. Silt settled and Dory was coughing as Marlin speechlessly stared at the metal inches away from his face. Once again, he couldn't believe his luck to be alive again.

"Whoa, dusty," Dory brushed away silt.

Marlin blinked, then gazed at her. She was alone. No mask was hanging on her back. "The mask! Where is the mask?"

Bubbling sounds attracted their attention and they looked down. Marlin caught a brief glimpse of the mask sinking deeper into the dark pit before it vanished.

"No! Get the mask!" he screamed as he plummeted into the darkness. "Get it! Get it! Get the mask!" Then he halted, realizing that he was in the darkness, feeling coldness biting at his body. He left the darkness back into the warm, lightened waters and grabbed on a perch. There, he panted, now distressed, wondering what he can do to get the mask. But it seemed hopeless. He was too scared to go in the darkness. It wasn't safe.

He then heard cheerful singing as Dory calmly dove into the darkness. Of course, she could not have any fear of the darkness. She was a Regal Blue; she had no fear of the darkness. "La la la la la! It just keeps going on, doesn't it? Echo! Echo!" Then, she was at his side. "Hey, what you doing?"

Marlin closed his eyes with grief. "It's gone. I've lost the mask."

"Did you drop it?"

"You dropped it!" he snapped at her, then again gazed down the pit. "That was the only chance of finding my son. Now it's gone."

Dory watched the Clownfish with mild confusion and concern. She didn't understand what was going on here, but she knew that this Clownfish was sad, had lost his son S . .  Shane? Harry? She couldn't recall the name, but she knew that he was sad. He needed some cheering up.

"Hey, Mr. Grumpy Gills . . ." Marlin looked up in silent astonishment as the Blue had her lips puckered up, her eyes wide and shining. Once he noticed her, she then grinned. "When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do?"

Marlin made a disapproving frown. "I don't want to know." He didn't feel like cheering up and he would be darned if he let this foolish fish do that for him.

"'Just keep swimming!'" She swayed back and forth, singing. She had a nice and pretty voice, he thought, but he kept the frown on. "'Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim.'"

She circled her fin around his and dragged him down toward the darkness. Marlin's body tightened with fright as he watched the darkness coming closer and closer. He tried to pull his fin out from the singing Blue, but her grip was like stone. He slackened, listening to new verses coming out from her mouth. Somehow, the song filled his head, sticking inside. He tried to remove the cheerful tone from his head. Still there.

"Now, I will never get the song out my head. Now it's in my head."

"Sorry."

He shivered at the iciness around him, feeling it through his scales and bones. It wasn't like the coldness of the night. It was different. It was like the darkness of the pit was never warm at all, cold all the time, so icy and chilly. So cold that he could feel the solidness of it around him. He couldn't see anything at all. Again, it wasn't like the night darkness. It was pitch-black, even blacker than Dory's black markings. He was completely blind.

He was glad to have Dory holding on his fin, feeling something warm, something familiar. He tightened his hold and whispered, "Dory, do you see anything?"

"Aah! Someone's got me."

Marlin didn't let go of his hold, even though she was trying to. He felt her other fin brushing against his and he gently held on it, trying to calm her. "I'm sorry. That's me."

"Who's that?"

He frowned. Had her memory problem been acting up again? "Who could it be? It's me."

A pause, then she questioned, "Are you my conscience?"

He was glad that the darkness hid his irritation. "Yeah, yeah, I'm your conscience. We haven't spoken in a while. How are you doing?"

"Can't complain."

"Yeah? Good. Now, Dory, I want you to tell me - do you see anything?"

"I see . . . I see a light."

"A light?"

"Yeah, over there."

When he couldn't see where she pointed at, he simply searched around until he found the light. It was tiny and pearly in brightness. It was like a lone star floating in the darkness. It was so beautiful that he felt drawn to it.

"Hey, conscience, am I dead?"

"No. I see it, too."

Together, they swan closer to it. The light didn't brighten as they neared, only bathed them with the softness and beauty. "What's it?" Marlin murmured. He never saw such a beautiful light before. It was really like a star, hid inside a globe. He paused to search in his mind for knowledge of what kind of coral that could give off light like that. But . . . the worry eased away from his mind. He felt a weight being lifted from his body, filling him with dizzy pleasure.

"It's so . . . pretty." Dory glanced into the light with wide eyes. The light darkened her scales, but then softened her colors into cobalt and azure. She seemed younger and more innocent.

"I feel . . . happy. Which is a big deal . . . for me," Marlin agreed with her, also staring into the light. It also softened and darkened his scales, making him almost invisible. He didn't care. All he wanted to do was stare into the light forever.

"I want to touch it . . ."

The light almost shyly leaped out from her outreached fin, began dancing around them. Marlin and Dory laughed with glee as the light continued its beautiful dance, enthralling them. Marlin felt a melody coming out from his throat and he did sing, coaxing the light to get closer and comfort him. During the light's dance, he received the uneasy sensation that he was being watched. It was very faint, and he could ignore it easily, but it was still there, disturbing him.

Laughing, the fishes turned around, then stopped there, stilled.

Fangs.

Long fangs, gracefully curled toward them, the light glinting through. The fishes instinctively froze.

Fangs meant only one thing.

"Good feeling's gone," Marlin murmured.

The light then brightened into a white flare that hurt his eyes and illuminated everything around him. The light sped from the globe, down a curved shaft, and then revealed a monster. The Monster of the Deep, the Anglerfish.  Its large pearly eyes held nothing but hunger. It was like a machine, light flaring through its body, the once beautiful light now a blinding, unnatural brightness. It opened its fanged mouth and screeched.

The fishes shrieked in response and sped out of its way before it could snap on them. They tried their best to escape, but the darkness frightened them, now knowing that they weren't alone in the darkness. The light from the Anglerfish was the only source that they can see, and they couldn't escape from it, either. 

Marlin grew frustrated, flapping his tail to keep away from the pearl fangs, but still stayed at the circle of the lure light. He couldn't see anything at all in front! The light was behind him and lightly illuminated rocks or grounds that he and Dory had to act quickly to duck before they could get struck. He knew they were stuck, couldn't escape into the darkness in fear of another possible Anglerfish and couldn't leave this Anglerfish for it had the only light source.

Just then, he saw the mask. Hanging on a rock.

"The mask!" Marlin gasped, stopping.                                                      

Dory bumped into him and looked around. "What mask?"

He pulled her down as the flare got close. Luckily, the Anglerfish missed them, swam past. Using the darkness to his advantage, Marlin hid near the rock, kept his eyes on the Anglerfish, who still had its light on. The beam was being moved frantically as the monster tried to find them.

"Ok, I can't see a thing," she muttered in light irritation.

Marlin tensed as the Anglerfish heard her and whirled around. The light spotted the fishes. "Oh, gee."

"Oh, look, a mask," Dory said, her eyes on it.

"Read it!" Marlin ordered, and then darted off, leading the Anglerfish away from Dory. He needed to do this. He had to. It was the only way that she can use the time to read the mask - and he had to do his best not to get eaten.  He sped around rocks, ducked through holes and turned around, eventually driving the Anglerfish dizzy and mad.

Dory's voice called out, a bit uncertain. "I'm sorry, but if you could just bring it a little closer, I kind of need the light." Just then, the light landed on her and she grinned. "That's great. Just keep it there."

"Just read it!"

The Blue puffed, frowning. "Ok, ok. Mr. Bossy."

As she began reading, Marlin let the Anglerfish chase him around tall rocks, but eventually, the monster was clever enough to turn around and halt him in his tracks. It snapped at him, but he ducked down into the safety of a small trench formed by the rocks. Marlin covered his eyes, but then noticed the lure light hanging close. He grabbed on it and aimed it toward Dory.

"Oh, the first line is 'P. Sherman'," she finished, pointing at the strap with a grin of triumph.

Marlin gazed at her with what was close to panic. "'P. Sherman' doesn't make sense!" Then he was yanked out by the Anglerfish, forgot that he was still holding on the light. He couldn't dare to let it go, using the flare in between. He hoped that the flare was enough to blind the Anglerfish, but apparently, it was too mad to allow anything to keep him from being its dinner. It snapped its mouth at him, narrowly missing, but it didn't stop there.

"Don't eat me! Don't eat me!" Marlin pleaded, seeing flashes of the pearl fangs. Finally, the mouth shut around him. Him and its antenna altogether.

"Light, please!" Dory's voice yelled in the sudden darkness.

Even though he was holding tight on the antenna, the Clownfish gave out a shrill scream at the fact that he was inside a fish.  He didn't wanted to see what the insides looked like, keeping his eyes closed. The Anglerfish recoiled at the struggles and spat him out, along with its antenna out. After two snaps, Marlin let go and swam quickly as the Anglerfish chomped on its antenna. Obviously, it didn't like the taste of itself.

Marlin ducked behind the rock where Dory was still reading the mask. "The second line is '42 Wallaby Way'."

He nodded rapidly, watching the Anglerfish recovering and began its wild approach. "That's great. Speed read. Take a guess." He began to sweat. "No pressure. No problem." The pearl fangs were coming. "There's a lot of pressure. Pressure! Take a guess now with pressure!"

"'Sydney'! It's 'Sydney'!" she finished excitedly.

"Duck!" Marlin yelled as he grabbed on the mask. He pulled it up, feeling the strap stuck on the rock, feeling the elasticity pulling against his tired fins. He could only bear the pull for a moment, and then suddenly, something massive crashed into the mask, knocking Marlin out of his hold. All he saw was white, glaring light, and he sheltered his head, shutting his eyes, waiting for the bite that will end his life.

"I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I died, I'm dead . . ."

When it considered to him that he wasn't dead yet, he carefully opened one eye and jerked out of the way as the Anglerfish gave out a growl. It wasn't a fierce growl nor a hungry growl. It was a surprised growl. Marlin looked up and weakly grinned; his plan worked. The Anglerfish had trapped between the mask and the rock, the mask covering the pearl eyes, trapped it down. The Anglerfish was furiously struggling; despite its struggles, the mask refused to let it go.

Marlin finally laughed out his anxiety. Inspired by Dory's Swimming Song in his mind, he began singing tauntingly, wagging his tail at the Monster. He couldn't believe his luck, indeed! First, the Sharks, the explosions, and now this! He did it all by himself. He was so scared to death, thought he could die of fear, but . . . he was feeling good about it. He even found it hilarious that he, the timid Clownfish from the reef, did face down an Anglerfish!

His glee faded when he heard Dory joining in his song, completely forgetting about the present danger.

"Dory!" Marlin said, getting her attention. "What did the mask say?"

"'P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney'," she uttered, then stopped, her eyes widened in cognition. She gasped and hugged Marlin in her excitement, baffling him. "I remembered what it said! Usually, I forget things, but I remembered it!"

He wiggled out her hold and asked, "Wait, wait, where is that?"

"I don't know, but who cares!" She made a small dance. "I remembered!"

The sudden annoyed growl from the Anglerfish startled the fishes and caused them to swim upward for safer waters.

"'P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney'. I remembered it again!"

A/O:                                                                            

Ok, ok. I do admit that the Barracuda did scare me, but man . . . this Anglerfish. I've seen Anglerfishes in pictures, and I thought they were so cool in design, but now in this movie, it convinced me. Kids, do not swim in the dark with an Anglerfish. Look at the fangs! Bloody scary!

I actually laughed when Marlin got swallowed by the Anglerfish. It was a funny sight, c'mon! :D

An interesting fact to muse on: Anglerfishes with the lure light are actually females.