Disclaimer:
Ok, guppies, I've already said this. I do not own anything that belongs to 'Finding Nemo' nor do I own it. I own only JC and Dot, and definitely, my oddity.
Dot: Why can't we do the disclaimer like before?
I've ran out of ideas.
JC: I have an idea. Why won't you ask the readers to help us out? I believe they would love to see their ideas displayed for the disclaimer. They can send their ideas to your email address and have either of us or us together doing them. I think that'll be fun.
Gee, what a brilliant idea.
JC: Well, it was yours originally, but you made me say it so it won't sound like you're begging them.
. . .
Dot: Hahah! Good one, man!
No more Gurgle for you.
Dot: Hey, I didn't say that! JC did!
Ok, then no more Coral for you, JC.
JC: Bugger.
Dot: Coral? I still think you should have Dory.
JC: Only if you will have Marlin.
Dot: Eww! He's like my cousin!
JC: Then Dory is like my sister. It would be revolting.
Dot: . . . Hmm, you have a point there.
Oh, man, what have I done?
Chapter Eight: Grab shell, Dude!
Ache.
That was all he sensed after he crawled out from the blackness. His senses were dulled and clouded by the haziness in his body. At first, he thought his body was completely numb and lifeless, but he then perceived his heartbeat, faint and steady, pulsating through his veins, along with the ache. His sense of touch woke first, stating that he was laying on his side, upon something hard and ridged. He felt waters skimming on his scales, nudging him to wake. Then he heard a distinct voice breaking through the daze, repeating one word that he couldn't recognize. The voice sounded low, benign, and it had the mellowness of a free swimmer to it. The voice seemed to urge him to wake.
"Dude . . . ?"
His sight was heavily clouded, but slowly, he began seeing a darker shadow in the fog. As his vision cleared, the shadow became a head, then the head belonged to a Green Sea Turtle. He looked ancient, with the laughter lines around his heavy-lidded green eyes and a permanent smile on his beak.
"Focus, dude. Dude."
Marlin flinched at the light nausea swimming in his stomach. His frail groan convinced the Turtle.
"Oh, he lives!" The Turtle's concerned smile widened easily. "Hey, dude!"
"Oh, what happened?" he questioned, sluggishly righting himself. He was faintly confused to find that his body was weak and lethargic, like he was sleeping too long. His mind was still dazed and blank, couldn't recall what happened earlier.
"Saw the whole thing, dude," the Turtle drawled. Using exaggerated gestures, he expressed his amazement and approval, a bounce in his body. "First, you were like 'Whoa', and we were like 'Whoa!', and then you were like 'Whoa . . .'"
Marlin merely held on, feeling the nausea stirring against the movements, waiting until the Ancient calmed down and asked, "What're you talking about?"
The Turtle gazed back, his grin contagious. "You, mini-man. Takin' on the jellies. You got some serious thrill issues, dude." He made a deep chuckle that shook his entire body, including Marlin. "Awesome."
The Clownfish shut his eyes. "Oh, my stomach. Ohh!"
"Hey, man, no hurling on the shell, okay? Just waxed it."
He paused for a moment, waiting until the nausea finally eased, and he gazed at the friendly face. It was the first time he met a gigantic Sea Turtle face to face, and even so, he began to feel that he had known the Turtle for years. The Turtle treated him like an old friend, and for a moment, he was grateful for that, considering all the dangers he had faced lately.
As usual, he was timid as he asked, "So, Mr. Turtle -"
"Whoa, dude." The Turtle had a shocked expression, and he quickly glanced around, as if was making sure they were alone. He then laughed. "Mr. Turtle is my father. The name's Crush."
Marlin tilted his head in mild interest. "Crush? Really? Ok, Crush, I need to get to the East Australian Current. EAC?"
Crush gave out a pleased chortle, shaking his head with a flipper on his forehead. "Oh, dude! You're riding it, dude!" He then gestured behind him with his head. "Check it out!"
When he turned around, Marlin was greeted by an incredible view that he would cherish for years to be. Hundreds of Sea Turtles, all in natural colors of green, brown, and orange, lazily flapped their fins, bodies filling the East Australian Current. He began to notice that the speeding waters had a specific speed that was first felt than seen. The current water was darker than the surrounding waters, coloring light green and a bit of dark blue against the usual cool blue color. Bubbles and wisps of liquid passed him, stroking his scales with such a smoothness that was almost like perfect calm waters. Also, there were hundreds of fish species, calmly swimming among the Turtles, unafraid of their meat-eating abilities, and the Turtles appeared unfazed, as well, merely laughing and chattering with each other. It was perfect harmony, and Marlin was awed at the sight.
Then his new companion uttered out with a grin. "Ok, grab shell, dude!"
Marlin was startled to feel a new tremble in the waters and he whirled around just in time to yell, "Grab whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!" He, indeed, grabbed on the edge of the thick shell as the current suddenly took in a plummeting dip, the speed seeming to suck him, Crush, and the nearby Turtles swiftly. He couldn't stop screaming, even when the current curled upward into an excited elation that pulled out more laughter from Crush.
"Haha! Righteous! Righteous!" the ancient Turtle hollered like a kid.
Finally, the current steadied up, and the Turtles came back easily into the lazy swim. Crush rolled himself onto his back, letting Marlin floating on his chest. "So . . . What brings you on this fine day to the E.A.C?"
"Dory and I need to get to Sydney," Marlin simply said. Abruptly, he remembered. Dory! The jellyfish forest! Genuine and painful dismay filled him. "Dory! Is she alright?" He searched around, wanting to see a hint of blue scales, a flash of the kind grin. He couldn't bear the thought that she might be dead . . .
Crush frowned in puzzlement, then understood. "Oh, little Blue." He rolled back on his stomach and pointed downward. "She's sub-level, dude."
A couple of Turtles had shifted out of Marlin's sight, and there she was. She was on another Turtle, who was swimming near the bottom of the current. She was laying on her side, comatose.
"Dory! Dory!" The Clownfish dove over to her. There, he stopped, staring in new shame at the reward she got from the jellyfish 'game'. Three raw scars blemished across her right gill cover, as long as her fins. They shone white and pink, and Marlin flinched with pain when he eyed the scars, as like they burned on his side, too. Barely hearing her muttering, Marlin guiltily reached to touch the scars, then stopped. He was ashamed and angry at himself for not listening to her. She knew. Even with her memory flaw, she knew when to stop from continuing into danger. He should've listened to her advice of swimming through the trench.
"Dory . . ." Marlin whispered, lowering his fin. "I'm so sorry. This's all my fault. It's my fault."
" . . . Twenty-nine, thirty!" He blinked at her playful voice as Dory popped open her eyes and leaped up with energy. "Ready or not, here I come!" She darted off to another Turtle, appearing to search for something. Or someone. She spotted whatever it was and pointed excitedly. "There you are!"
Young Turtles swam out from their hiding places from under the smiling old Turtle, laughing and clapping their fins.
Dory wagged her tail, shouting, "Catch me if you can!" She then dropped swiftly just before the Turtles grabbed on her. Their laughter echoed as they circled around the older Turtle and sped past Marlin, not noticing him.
Marlin stayed where he was, feeling great relief that Dory was fine. He wondered if she had recalled the scars, but then he didn't want to spark her memory about the pain and danger. All that mattered was that she was alright. Marlin glanced around the area, now with warming pleasure. He watched few youngsters showing off their moves to each other, using an old Turtle's shell. Even the Turtle was enjoying it, observing the show. Two parents were swinging a little Turtle gal in their fins, the gal so tiny compared to her large parents. Marlin felt a heavy sadness coming in, and he knew that he was missing his son. He never got to play with his son like the Turtles did; he always ended up worrying over Nemo's safety. He began to wonder if he would ever see his son again. He hoped that once he found him, he will make sure that Nemo's time with him will not be wasted.
He heard laughter nearby. An old Turtle was swinging a chain of youngsters, and with a slight jerk, caused a young lad at the end to break off. Marlin was shocked to see the lad spinning right out of the current!
"Oh, my goodness!" He hurried forward, but then was stopped by a large flipper.
"Kill the motor, dude," Crush was saying, lowering his flipper. He then gestured toward the current. "Let's see what Squirt does flying solo."
The tiny lad was a blur as he appeared to search for the right spot to enter the current. After a moment, he broke through, the speeding waters sending him into a whirl that ended him up upon his back. Surprisingly, the lad wasn't sounding afraid. In fact, he was excited.
"Whoa! That was so cool!" Squirt's large red eyes were on Crush as he awkwardly flapped his fins toward him. "Hey, Dad, did you see that? Did you see me? Did you see what I did?"
When Crush appeared sleepily and laid-back to Marlin, he was astonished to see the heavy-lidded eyes opening wide like a energetic kid, grinning proudly. "You so totally rock, Squirt! So give me fin." His tiny son slapped his tiny flipper upon his large flipper. "Noggin." Both bumped their heads together, making a solid clonk. "Dude."
"Dude!"
The Clownfish shyly drifted closer to the older Turtle when Squirt interestingly regarded him. Crush then beamed. "Oh, Intro. Jellyman, offspring. Offspring, Jellyman!"
Squirt's mouth gawked open. "Jellies?! Sweeeeet."
"Totally."
Marlin chuckled bashfully, wondering why Crush called him Jellyman all of a sudden. All he did was saved his friend from the jellyfish. It was nothing extraordinary. "Apparently, I must've done something that you liked . . . dudes."
Squirt flapped close and grinned. "You rock, dude!" He gave him a bonk on his head.
"Ow . . ." Marlin rubbed the sore bruise.
"Curl away, my son," Crush waved to Squirt, who swam off with his friends, and sighed with pride, turning to Marlin. "It's awesome, Jellyman. The little dudes are just eggs. We leave them on the beach to hatch, then coo-coo-cahoo, they find their way back to the big ol' blue."
Marlin was surprised. "All by themselves?"
"Yeah."
"But, dude, how did you know when they are ready?" he asked, anxious at the fact that the Turtles would simply leave their babies all alone, outside the ocean.
The Turtle mildly smiled. "Well, you'll never know, but when they know, you'll know, you know?" Ha!" His relaxed, rhythmical nods affected the Clownfish, and altogether, they merely watched the playful children, nodding lazily.
Marlin then watched Dory, still playing Chase with her friends, closing, then halted as she noticed him. Her gaze held mild perplexity toward him. During that moment, he was disheartened that she didn't recognize him at first, but then her scarlet eyes instantly brightened and she grinned broadly. She turned to the youngsters, pointing, "Hey, look, everybody!"
The Turtles gazed upon Marlin with childish interest, which made him smiling shyly. Squirt was there, as well, laughing. "I know that dude! It's the Jellyman!"
"Go on, jump on him!" Dory told them.
"Turtle pile!" The children flapped their fins hard to swim forward into alarming speeds.
"Wait, wait, wait!" the Clownfish protested just before the turtles leaped upon him.
Questions erupted around him.
"Are you funny?"
"Where is your shell?"
"Are you running away?"
"Did you really cross the jellyfish forest?"
"Did they sting you?"
Marlin gasped for breath, squeezing out between a tiny opening before the Turtles managed to crush him. "One at a time!" He nervously chuckled, stopping one of the children before he could earn another bonk on his head as a greeting. A tiny flipper tugged at his tail and he turned to see the close-up face of a gal.
"Mr. Fish, did you die?" she questioned, her eyes wide.
Dory neared, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, I was a little vague on the details."
Marlin shook his head in admiration toward the Blue, then answered Squirt's question of the whereabouts he was heading. "Well, you see, my son was taken. He was taken away from me."
The children's large eyes widened as much as they could in suspenseful curiosity and they gathered around Dory, who was also astonished - forgotten all about their travels once again. "No way," she murmured.
"What happened?" Squirt questioned, resting upon the Blue's back.
The thoughts of his adventures, the pain and fright he'd earned were too much this time. He didn't want to recall any of them. He shook his head reservedly. "No, kids, I don't want to talk about it."
"Aw, please!" the Turtles pleaded. "Pleeeeeaaasse?"
Dory glanced at the Turtles, then nodded at Marlin. Her nod encouraged him to let the Turtles know. Maybe talking about the stories and his troubles would help, even though it was only to children. Marlin faintly smiled, took a seat upon Crush's shell, and began. "Well, ok. I came from a reef long, long way from here."
"Oh, this's gonna be good, I can tell," Dory grinned to the Turtles, who then nestled closer to her, getting ready for his tale.
Marlin warmed up to his story, enlivened by the wide, waiting gazes. "And my son, Nemo . . . see, he was mad at me, and maybe he wouldn't have done that if I hadn't been so tough on him. Anyway, he swan out into the open water to this boat and when these divers appeared and I tried to stop the boat, but the boat was too fast. So, we swam out in the ocean to follow him . . ."
And so the Clownfish began the long tale of his adventures he relived along with his new partner. His tale wasn't exaggerated, he carefully telling the right details, but the very emotions, the suspense hanging in every spoken word held the Turtles in constant enjoyment, drinking in the tale. Some of the Turtles began telling to their parents and pals nearby, retelling the stories, exaggerating a bit, stretching the reality a bit, but remaining true to the tale. Like every other place on the entire planet, word traveled faster than the speed of the EAC. One by one, the listeners became storytellers and passed on the incredible tale of a timid Clownfish who braved every danger to find his stolen son.
The tale spread everywhere the fishes went, but most importantly, it traveled southward, overnight, until, at the next morning at the Sydney Harbor, it arrived to the ears of a friendly Pelican who knew a distinguished young lad who was taken away from his father . . .
"Mine! Mine! Mine!"
Perching on his favorite rock, the sun bathing his feathers, Nigel scowled sourly at a flock of his cousins - cousins that he'd be very happy to disown - Seagulls. Numbered in tens or so, they were always at where food was available and chanted their one-word warble that would eventually drive anybody insane and ended up throwing their food to silence the Seagulls. The warble was shrill and very piercing to his ears and Nigel fought against one of the urges to throw his own breakfast at them in order to shut them up.
Behind him, on another group of rocks, his Pelican flock was successfully ignoring the Seagulls, engrossed in an fascinating tale.
Nigel was almost able to turn a deaf ear on the warble and ready to wolf down a crab. He then flinched at the increasing volume. He whirled around and bellowed, "Would you just SHUT UP?! You're rats with wings!"
Muttering, not caring if the Seagulls finally perceived his words or ignored him, Nigel smoothed down his feathers and grinned at his snapping breakfast. Then he stopped. He heard a name that he recently knew. "Nemo?" He gazed over to the Pelicans, who was speaking something about finding Nemo. He was puzzled; how could the little lad's name be known all the way down here from the Barrier Reef?
"Mine! Mine! Mine!"
The Pelican bristled and hurled the crab toward them. "There! You happy?!" He watched in disgust as the Gulls literally stumbled after the rolling crab before he rejoined his flock. "Hey, wait! Tell me about Nemo."
The lucky crab was clever enough to fool the hungry Gulls by spinning one of his pinchers in a hypnotic motion. "Wooo . . . Hye-ah!" With a mocking snap, he flipped back into the harbor waters.
"Mine?"
Nigel was astonished and excited. He knew that Nemo wouldn't believe him at all! Nemo will get his surprise! "Brilliant!" he laughed when the storyteller mentioned that a Clownfish was heading for the harbor for the little Nemo. He took off, eager to pass on the story.
Meanwhile, Nemo was resting in the helmet, silent and brooding. The failure of breaking the filter did it. He grew depressed with the fact that in three days, he will be taken away once again, this time by the fish killer. He often evoked images of him being shaken in the bag by her and feeling his life seeping away. He couldn't stop thinking about it, and not even the fishes aided assuring the fear and the pain. Gill was no better, either. He sulked inside the skull statue, refusing to speak to anybody, even Peach. The Tank Gang didn't show much concern to their leader; they've experienced his moody moments. Besides, they were more worried about Nemo. He was the one who had to face his death soon.
The lad once again glanced up to the picture of the fish killer, again reminding him of the failure, and again sighed.
Floating overhead, Bloat, Gurgle, Bubbles, and Deb were watching Nemo, out of his view.
"Is he doing okay?" the Humbug quietly asked Bloat, her blue eyes wide with helplessness.
The Blowfish answered back with a sympathetic frown.
Gurgle cupped his mouth and gazed at his three pals expectantly, "Whatever you do, don't mention D-A-R-"
He froze in guilt as Nemo swam out from his spot. "It's okay," he softly voiced as he passed the Royal Gamma, "I know who you're talking about."
Gurgle received a severe slap on his head from Bloat.
The Clownfish sighed to himself. It was useless to brood over his failure. He couldn't make up by doing it again; he was too scared to experience the sucking sensation and the deafening wail of the gears again. All he could do was apologize to Gill and hope that his second father would forgive him. With a petrified look up to the sucking tube, he then hurried over to the skull statue.
"Gill?" When the solemn voice didn't answer, Nemo peered in one of the eye sockets. The Moorish Idol was almost invisible because of his black markings against the dimness, but the white stripes and the ruby eyes stood out. "Gill . . . ?"
The eyes shifted at him briefly, then averted away. "Hey, Sharkbait." Shame coated his scarred face.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't stop -"
"No, I'm the one who should be sorry." A hint of yearning appeared. "I was so ready to get out, so ready to taste the ocean that I was willing to put you in danger to get there." Gill closed his eyes and shook his head gently. "Nothing should be worth that. I'm sorry that I couldn't get you to your father, kid."
Outside, panting, Nigel flapped his wings, heading for the dentist's office, excited to tell the story he heard. Then he gasped in dismay - the bloody dentist shut the window! AGAIN! He wildly tried to stop his flight, but -
WHAM!
The fishes merely reacted at the crash with surprise, immediately relaxed afterward. However, Dr. Sherman was working, preparing to pull out a bad tooth. At the crash, he yanked it out. "What the - ?!"
The scream was painful and shrill, and the Diver slapped his hands over his swelling mouth, staring at his dentist, wondering if this visit should be his last.
Dr. Sherman glanced at the tooth in his hand and chuckled good-naturedly. "That's one way to pull a tooth, eh?" He walked up to the window - which was open by mysterious attempts - and frowned. "Darn kids! Well, good thing I pulled out the right one, eh, Prime Minister?"
Nigel peered inside, seeing the dentist departing. "Hey, psst."
"Oh, Nigel," Peach was saying, her eyes on the Divers, "You just missed an extraction."
"Have he loose the periodontal ligament yet - " The Pelican slapped himself. "What am I talking about? Where's Nemo? I gotta talk to him!"
Along with Gill at his side, the curious Nemo neared the wall, where the rest was already waiting. "What's it?" He wondered what Nigel had to say.
Nigel was enthusiastic to tell what he heard, his eyes bright. "Your dad's fighting the entire ocean looking for you!"
The lad was astonished. His father traveled the ocean? "My dad? Really?"
The Pelican nodded. "He's traveled hundreds of miles, battling sharks and jellyfish - "
"Sharks? That can't be him . . ." Now he knew the tale was wrong. His father wouldn't fight a shark. He was too frightened to do anything except stay home. Nemo averted away, not wanting this false hope to encourage him.
Nigel noticed the frown and tried to recall the father's name among his memory to prove that he was telling the truth. "What was his name? Some sort of sport fish? Tuna? Trout?"
"Marlin?" Nemo hazarded to let his hopes rise a bit.
"Marlin! The little Clownfish from the reef!"
The lad beamed. The tale was real! His father was searching for him! And he faced down a shark! Dread and dejection evaporated, replaced with hope and pride. He laughed to the nearby Bubbles and Gill, "That's my dad! He took on a shark!"
Nigel grinned knowingly. "I heard he took on three."
Now the entire Tank Gang gawked in incredulity. "Three sharks?" Gill murmured.
"That's 4,800 teeth!" Bloat calculated.
The Pelican then continued the tale. "After you was caught by Diver Dan out there, your father followed the boat like a maniac."
"Really?"
"He's swimming, giving it all he's got, and three gigantic sharks capture him and he blows them up and dives thousands of feet and gets chased by a monster with huge teeth! He ties this demon to a rock, and what's his reward? He gets to battle an entire jellyfish forest! Now he's with a bunch of sea turtles on the E.A.C., and the word is he's heading this way, right now, to Sydney!"
The Tank Gang cheered, inspired by the unbelievable tale. Gill smiled lightly and turned to Nemo, saying, "He was looking for you after all, Sharkbait . . ." The Clownfish wasn't at his side, had vanished. The rest looked around in puzzlement, then Gill caught a glimpse of orange. Nemo was near the filter, picking up a pebble in his mouth. For the moment, the Tank Gang was confused, then Gurgle realized his plan first.
"He's swimming to the filter!"
"Sharkbait!" He couldn't believe that Nemo was actually going ahead with the failed plan. What was he thinking? Gill darted, trying to catch him. But with a new determination, Nemo dauntlessly leaped into the filter. Gill gazed at the spinning wheel with apprehension, truly afraid for the little lad. What if he failed again? Not now when his father was so close to finding him! Diving back in, the Moorish Idol then ordered his companions to aid him. Together, they pulled out the kelp plant, using the same plant to pull the lad out like they did the last time. They hurried as fast as they could, calling out at him to grab on -
Clank.
The Tank Gang froze, gasping. That was the sound of the gear stopping. Did that mean Nemo was trapped in the gears? Heart beating rapidly, Gill tried to peer inside the filter, trying to find a shadow that was Nemo, hoping that he was still alive. He didn't know if he would be able to face the Tank Gang, not when his plan failed twice and killed their newest friend. "Nemo!" he called with trepidation. "Can you hear me?"
"Yes, I can hear you."
He wasn't inside the filter! He was behind them! Whirling around, the Tank Gang was shocked to see Nemo just fine, grinning with triumph. They then realized - Nemo succeeded the plan! The filter was broken!
Gill was grinning openly and proudly. "Sharkbait, you did it!"
Gurgle embraced the Clownfish in happiness. "Sharkbait, you're . . . covered with GERMS!" He let go, swiftly darting away, staring at his dirty fins.
The Moorish Idol laughed. "That took some guts, kid."
He then gathered the fishes around, having to wait a moment while Jacques obediently cleansed the trembling Gamma's fins, and revealed a new plan. "Alright, gang, we have less than 48 hours before Darla gets here. This tank will get dirty in that time, but we'll help it along any way we can. Jacques?"
"Oui?"
"No cleaning."
"I shall resist."
"Now, be as gross as we can. Think dirty thoughts. We will make this tank so filthy that the dentist will have to clean it."
Burps erupted from Bloat, eventually making the tank water filthier.
"Good work!"
Nemo laughed. Soon, he will be with his father! He knew now that he caused the plan to work, nothing will stop him from getting to his father.
A/O:
Dude! You so groovy, Crush! Excellent! Awesome . . . Er, I can't think of anything Californian. I don't exactly speak Californian anyway. ^^;;
Ok, I don't know if it was just me, but I've noticed that there is a continuance in the movie. Crippled right sides. First, there is Nemo with his gimpy fin, then Gill with his destroyed fin, and now Dory with her scars, all on their right sides. Were the Pixar Dudes trying to imply something? Hmmmm . . .
