A/N: Okay, just as a warning: this will be the first chapter with magic kind of stuff. As in, things that don't normally happen. I shall add fantasy into the action/adventure/romance genre, okies?

Once again, I shall thank my wonderful, wonderful reviewers!

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

Chapter 5 – "The First Nightmare – Task One"

Everything was black and there was nothing and no one around. Marlin looked in all directions, and even below him there was nothing but darkness. All was still and the only thing he could hear was his own breathing. "Where am I?" he muttered.

Seconds later, he saw what looked like a group of fish in the distance. Curious, Marlin started toward the crowd, and he realized that he recognized the fish. The members of the "tank gang," Nemo and his three friends (as well as their fathers) Crush, Squirt, and even Bruce, Chum, and Anchor. They were all formed in a circle and were staring down at something with frowns on their faces.

It took Marlin an eternity (or so, it seemed) to finally get over to the group. He came up from behind Gill, went past him, and looked down in horror at what they were all staring at.

Dory was lying (or floating, since there was nothing beneath them) in the middle of the circle with deep wounds all over her body.

"Dory!" Marlin screamed, rushing to her side.

To his relief, Dory was still breathing, but barely. He felt tears start to form in his eyes. "Dory?… Dory, can you hear me?" he asked her. For a moment, nothing happened, but then Dory's eyes fluttered open and she looked around. When she looked at Marlin, she smiled.

"Oh, Dory. I'm so glad you're alright. What happened?" he said. She didn't respond. She just stared at him with an awestruck look on her face. She held out her fin, silently asking for him to take it – and he did.

"I have to leave now, Marlin," Dory whispered sadly. Marlin look alarmed. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Dory frowned. "I'm dying, Marlin. I can feel it," she told him. Marlin gawked at her, knowing this couldn't be true. None of this could be happening…

"No, Dory… you can't. I – I need you," he said, tears now flowing down his cheeks freely. He saw tears start to form in Dory's eyes too.

'And…?' asked a little voice in Marlin's head. 'There's something else you want to tell her, isn't there?' it taunted. 'And you know she doesn't have much more time left, so tell her now if ever.'

Marlin was quite for a few seconds. He looked at Dory for what he knew was the last time. He choked a sob down and opened his mouth.

"Dory, you helped me so much, and I don't know, and I don't think I ever will know, how to properly thank you. You're my best friend and always will be. But you know that already. I want you to know that, Dory, I…"

---

Marlin's eyes jerked open and were as large as saucers. He looked in all directions two times before getting up from his sleeping spot behind the coral. It took him a second to remember why he had gotten up so suddenly. His thoughts drifted back to his dream… his nightmare.

"Just a nightmare…" he reassured himself. "It was all just a silly nightmare caused from my worrying about Dory."

But there was something nagging at him, telling him that there was more to that dream than just his worries about Dory's safety. Though he couldn't think of what it could be. He was going to try and figure it out, but then he remembered what the wizard had told him about when he got up, Dory's clock would start ticking. There was no time to waste.

Picking up the bag that was next to him, Marlin took out the flat rock and looked at it. It read,

Ingredient 1: Majestic's Golden Kelp

Ingredient 2: The Powder Root of Moesko Caves

Ingredient 3: The Ink of the Giant Squid

Ingredient 4: Celestia's Magic Coral

Ingredient 5: The Blood of an Electric Eel

Ingredient 6: A Strand of Hair from a Mermaid

Ingredient 7: ---------------

Marlin stared at the blank space where the seventh ingredient should have been. Great, now what do I do? I was told that there needed to be seven things in this medicine, and there only six listed… Marlin began to feel a panic fit coming on. He fought it down, and tried his best to think of something.

Then, with a hopeful look on his face, Marlin flipped over the rock to it's backside. But when he saw it was blank, his heart sank even more. "What is the seventh ingredient?" he scolded to no one.

Then, to Marlin's disbelief, golden letters started to appear slowly on the back of the rock.

The truth of number seven

Is not yet needed for now

For it's meaning will come to you very soon

And only then will your heart allow

Marlin watched, dumbfounded, as the letters slowly dissolved into the rock. He didn't move for a while, just staring at the rock. When he finally returned to his senses, he realized that not only did words just appear out of nowhere on the rock, but he could also read them. How, he did not know, but somehow, he could understand what they said. And he also just then realized that the list of ingredients were in human writing, yet he read those too. Something strange was definitely going on…

Slowly, half expecting it to do something else weird, Marlin turned the rock over to it's front and saw something that wasn't there before: where the first ingredient was written, the letters were glowing red. Subconsciously, he lightly touched the letters with his fin.

He wasn't ready for what happened next. The second his fin met the rock, everything froze for a second, and then the scenery around him started to spin. Marlin wanted to look around, but his eyes were glued to where his fin touched the rock. And not only could he not move his head, but his whole body seemed to be frozen too. The swirling around him started to make him feel light headed, and he was relieved when he saw everything start to slow down again.

He blinked. Guessing that what ever just happened was over, he looked around (glad that he could move again) in awe. Marlin was now in a completely different place now. Everything was a bright emerald green and the sand underneath him was black. Looking behind him, Marlin found the source of the bright green all around him. It was what seemed to be a huge structure of coral (it was so high that he could barely see the top), which was giving off the emerald light. 

Marlin gaped at the castle-like structure; he had never seen anything like it. He probably would have continued to stare if it wasn't for the lionfish that came out from the large opening of the castle. It made a gesture at Marlin, telling him to come over. And when he got there, Marlin kept as far away from the lionfish as possible; he knew that they were poisonous.

"What do you want?" the fish asked in a gruff voice.

"… Uh, I'm here to see…" Marlin quickly looked at the rock that was still in his hands. "… Majestic. Did I come to the right place?" Marlin asked.

"Follow me," he replied. Marlin took that as a yes and followed him into the castle. It was only for about five minutes that Marlin followed the lionfish through the glowing tunnel before they came to a dead end. Marlin raised an eyebrow.

"Wait here," he commanded.

Marlin obeyed and gasped as the lionfish went straight through the wall. He waited for a short time and then the lionfish came back through the wall. Marlin looked up at him.

"This way," he instructed. "Now all you have to do to make it through the wall is think of something happy. If you let the tiniest bit of unpleasantness creep into your head, I can't guarantee you making it to the other side."

Marlin gulped and nodded. The lionfish disappeared behind the wall again. Marlin hesitated for a second, thinking of something happy. The thought of Dory being better when he brought her the medicine came to him and he smiled – which he realized was something he hadn't done in a while.

Marlin took a deep breath, let it go, and then swam into the wall.

The feeling of it was hard to describe, but you could say that the wall felt like a thin layer of slime, or mud. And when Marlin got all the way through the wall, everything was very, very dark. He kept swimming, and soon he found himself singing that song (quietly) that Dory sung to him when he was upset. When he thought of Dory, he felt happier. But then, the image of her still, unconscious body flashed through his mind.

Suddenly, Marlin saw gray smoke start to rise all around him. Then he heard something that sounded an awful lot like screaming… Dory screaming! Marlin began to panic and try to swim away, but whatever the smoke was, was keeping him in place.

"If you let the tiniest bit of unpleasantness creep into your head, I can't guarantee you making it to the other side."

The lionfish's words went through Marlin head. Then Marlin quickly thought of Dory being alive again, and the screaming sound ceased and the gray smoke disappeared. Breathing heavily, he continued swimming, and felt the next wall. He went through it and into a large room that had the same glowing color. The lionfish was standing next to him.

"First time isn't always easy," he commented. Marlin agreed in his head, knowing that he was talking about going through that horrible tunnel.

"I'm surprised you even made it through."

Marlin looked around; that voice hadn't come from the lionfish, because it was sly sounding and came from a female. That was when another, much bigger, lionfish came through the wall in front of Marlin and the other lionfish, taking a spot five feet away from Marlin. (Marlin was starting to get used to fish popping in and out of nowhere…)

Marlin guessed that this fish was Majestic because her next words were, "You've come to see me?"

"Um… yeah. I need your, uh… Golden Kelp," Marlin replied, looking at his rock again. "And what purpose do you need me Kelp for? It is very valuable," she said.

"It's for my friend's medicine."

"Ah, and you're going to tell me that you care about this friend, even though she needs this medicine because of your careless act?" she inquired.

Marlin turned wide eyed and Majestic smirked. He pushed aside feeling of confusion of how she could know about what happened, and replaced it with a feeling of hurt and guilt. He was well aware that it was because of him that Dory needed help, but that didn't mean he didn't care about her!

"Now, you listen here!" Marlin exclaimed at her. "I admit that I made a mistake  -- a mistake that endangered Dory's life! But that last thing that means is that I don't care about her well being! I mean, God, if she would die, I don't know what I'd do! If you think I don't care about her, then you tell me why I'm bothering to get her medicine!"

She smirked again and three pieces of gold kelp appeared between her and Marlin. "Go ahead and take it," she said. "Most people wouldn't have stood up to me like you did. You've earned the right to have the Golden Kelp."

Marlin stood still for a moment before taking the kelp and putting it into his bag. "Uh, thanks," Marlin said with fake gratefulness. He didn't much like her, but he didn't think he would make many good friends on this journey…

A/N: Whew! I'm finally done! *jumps for joy* I really hope you liked it! I know how Marlin got the kelp was kind of simple, but hey, Hercules finished half of his labors just by asking…

Disclaimer: If you haven't noticed by now, I've been using places and events from "Harry Potter" and "The Ring." I got Shelter Mountain Reef from and Moesko Caves from 'The Ring' (as in Shelter Mountain Inn, and Meosko Island). For 'Harry Potter' I got the teleporting rock idea from portkeys, and that tunnel Marlin went though was a dementor type thing. And so, I will say that nothing from 'The Ring' or 'Harry Potter' belong to me.