It's me again. Just another heading reminder thingy. Mr. Skimmer, Stroke, Niches, Chang, Tanachi, Maisey, and Rosie are all my fan-characters. Gill, Nemo, the Tank Gang, and all other characters with names that are not mentioned above belong to Disney and Pixar.
Thank you so much for your reviews!!! I actually didn't think anyone would like the storyline. I danced around my parlor when I read them (seriously). Anyway, I hope you like the rest of the story too! Please keep them coming!
This chapter might be rated PG instead of G, just because there's some…blood, and not in a funny way like Dory being hit with the mask.
I know I explained earlier that there were a lot of mistakes in this story. Well, there weren't many in chapter 1, but in this chapter there is one huge mistake. You will probably notice it right away when you get to it. This is because I wasn't paying close enough attention to a certain conversation in the movie the first three times I saw it. By the time I realized it, it was too late to change it. If I tried to change it now, I think the next few chapters would loose a lot of significance. Please excuse this mistake and just think of this as a "what if this happened instead?" kind of fic.
Chapter 2: Into the Wild Blue Yonder
The feeling of the water rushing around me was so exhilarating I just had to whoop with joy. At first, everything seemed to be going swimmingly (little pun in there. I know I'm not funny.) I turned a few somersaults and rolled around, delighted to be by myself and able to do anything I wanted now.
A few minutes later, I stopped and looked down on the reef, the vibrant colors waving farewell. I smiled at the various coral species dotting the surface. They were wondrous to behold, but now I was ready to leave them behind.
After a while of swimming, the reef disappeared, leaving me in open-ocean. It seemed to go on and on forever. I turned around and found myself looking at the same thing in front of me. That was when the realization struck me- I was only a little fish alone in the colossal ocean, not knowing where I was or where I was going. It was no better than swimming around wearing a little sign saying, "Eat me." (Wait, that doesn't really work because most fish can't read, and sharks are especially illiterate. I really have to stop trying to be funny.)
I desperately searched around, trying to find a familiar landmark, but everything was strange and foreign. Fear began to come with the panic and I circled around a certain blue rock three times, trying to get my bearings and calm down.
On my third trip around, another fish jumped out and slammed into me. I went reeling backward, as I was still just a child and he was much bigger than me. His body was yellow and thick with blue fins.
"Huh?" he said as he gazed at me. "Hey, what's a little fish like you doing around these parts?"
I blinked at him a couple of times and swam back up to the rock. "I…I'm running away from home."
The butterfly fish (for that was the type he was) chuckled to himself. "Running away from home, eh?"
"What are you laughing at?" I asked him, trying to seem tough. Of course, I didn't succeed at all.
"Well, little fish, you better get back to your home right away. Are you lost? I could direct you back to the reef…"
"No!" I cried. "I don't want to go back there. They make fun of me and call me an impurity."
The butterfly fish fellow shook his head. "You may think you have it bad back at your home, but you have no idea of the dangers outside this reef. The way you were circling that rock, you looked like you were just waiting for a shark or some other carnivorous fish to come up and swallow you."
For a moment, I was chilled, but when I thought of going home and the things that were waiting for me there, I knew there was no way I could go back. I set my face to a determined expression and shook my head. "No. I'm not afraid. I may not know where I'm going, but I'll find a new home, even if it takes a long time to get there." I had absolutely no idea at this age how prophetic this sentence was.
This butterfly fish fellow just shook his head again. "Well, don't say I didn't warn you."
I turned tail and began to swim back into the blue yonder, but his voice stopped me for a moment.
"Say, what type of fish are you, anyway?"
I turned around to look at him again. "Um…I really don't know. Why do you want to know that?"
The butterfly fish smiled. "Well, I like your filamentous extension. We should have more of your kind on this side of the reef."
My mind was boggled. "You like my what?"
"Your filamentous extension. You know, that long whip thing on the top of your head."
Slowly, I touched the long dorsal fin on my head, the thing I had used to smack Stroke back in our little crevice. "You mean this?"
He nodded.
"Well, thanks, I guess." After that attack, I had felt a little self-conscious about the dorsal fin, thinking that I was carrying a dangerous weapon around on my head. I gave Mr. Butterfly Fish a little wave and plunged back into the never-ending blue expanse.
I swam all day, sometimes getting bored, stopping on a few rocks to rest and have a snack, turning more somersaults, and retelling the magical story inside of that destroyed book. As night fell, I searched the nearby rocks and found a cozy little cave to sleep in. I prayed all night that no predators would find their way to my cave that night. My life was spared, and I woke up the next day, still alive. Immediately, I resumed my long-distance swim to who-knows-where. Two more days passed in this exact same way. Each time, I marveled that I hadn't died yet. Most of this was fine with me. I was quite enjoying the peace and quiet.
One of these empty days, while I was swimming along, I happened upon an amazing spectacle. There was a war going on. No one had told me about the shark-dolphin war battling it out in that specific part of the ocean. Mr. Butterfly Fish could have told me, but he doubted I would make it as far as this part.
In the middle of my serene swim I was thinking deeply on the topic of life above sea level, and a vision in the distance jolted me out of my philosophical trance. I almost screamed, "Sharks!" but bit my tongue to prevent them from noticing me. I froze in place, trembling in fear. My mind screamed at me to move. There was a rumor spread among most of my kin that sharks could smell your blood. I never found out if they really could, but I wouldn't really want to find out. I watched them for a moment in the curiosity that went along with fear.
Finally, the group began coming straight for me. I screamed, losing control, and swam as fast as I could possibly go to the side. Before they reached my vicinity, a pod of dolphins shot up, fighting with them. I hovered behind a local rock, watching in amazement. To this day, I still have not seen a more amazing sight, unless you count surgery on the human mouth. (Ha ha…aw, give it up) Anyway, the dolphins seemed to be winning. With a few more charges, the entire pod working in unison, the shark group broke up, fleeing in terror. Hopefully, those sharks would think twice before tangling with the dolphins again.
At that moment, I felt it was too dangerous to continue my long-distance swim to who-knows-where, so I scoped out another little cave where I spent the rest of the day. I must be the opposite of claustrophobic, because I love small, dark spaces. They suit my small, dark personality. Thankfully, I have a little bit of camouflage and my black stripes blended into the dark background. A few sharks swam by my hole, and fortunately they were either sick with clogged noses or not hungry at the moment. That night, I was so afraid, I had a hard time getting to sleep, so I told myself the story from the book over and over until I had calmed down and drifted into slumber.
The next day, I shot out of my hole with renewed energy. Surely the sharks and dolphins had moved on out of the area by now. I once again resumed my journey, destination unknown, occasionally turning more somersaults and stopping to nibble on some sponges.
Just when I thought everything was fine and had nothing to worry about anymore, the gray dots appeared again. I didn't notice them until they had gotten a little closer. By the time the sharks and dolphins were in front of me, there was no time to run and hide, and the nearest rock was very far down.
"You stupid dim-wit!" my inner mind screamed at me. "You should've seen them coming! Now you're going to end up just like your parents!"
A piercing scream I didn't know I possessed erupted from my shaking body as the head shark's pointy, glimmering teeth advanced, ready to bite right into it. It was very similar to back at the reef nook when the head fish, my brother, advanced on me, ready to attack. The only difference was the fact that as much as Stroke tried, he wouldn't have been able to kill me, and the shark was very capable and highly likely to kill me. In an incredible coincidence, the dolphins caught up at that very second. The shark brought his jaw down at the same time the dolphin grabbed his tail, pulling him backwards. For a moment I thought my life had been saved, that I was being salvaged again for some inexplicable reason.
All of that went straight down the drain as the shark missed my body, but was able to clamp onto my fin with his penetrating teeth. The dolphin, meaning good, but only causing more harm, forcefully yanked the shark backwards. There was a terrible ripping sound and I went spiraling downward, away from the incident. A stream of blood trailed my path. I frantically tried to regain my balance in the water and swim away, but found that my right fin was paralyzed at the moment, half of it being torn off and flapping in the jaw of the shark. That's it, I thought, I'm going to fall all the way down into the murky depths, get lost, and die.
For a moment, my hopes were lifted as I noticed that I was spiraling straight for the rigid blue rock below. My left fin pumped the water extra hard, acting as a paddle to steer me towards the rock. I may have been pumping it a little too hard, as I slammed full force into the pointy rock, dropping the whole time. There was another horrible noise, this one resembling a slicing sound, and followed by tremendous pain. A deep gash from the razor-sharp rock edge traveled along my right side. More blood floated into the water. Now the sharks would surely be able to smell my blood and eat me.
As I lied there on the rock, unable to sense any feeling in my entire right side, I tried to prevent myself from crying, telling myself that I would soon be with Mom and Dad, living in a beautiful pond in the sky. Eventually, I became unconscious, the world around me turning into pitch-blackness, as dark as the bottom layer. I was now absolutely positive I had died.
Slowly, I opened my eyes several hours later. Instead of a sparkling, heavenly pool, I was parked on the rigid rock, staring at the open space where I had been attacked. I hadn't died yet. Part of me wanted to die, and I felt that part of me was dying. Another part of me believed that it hadn't even happened and I had been having a nightmare. However, when I checked my injured right side, I saw the gash and the bloodstains, still fresh. I could barely move at all, and the right was totally immobilized.
"Help," I feebly croaked. "Help, help!" It was a little stronger the second time. As I lied helplessly on the blue rock, I continued to call for help, even though I thought deep in my heart that help was not coming. Who would help me? I wondered. My mother and father were dead, Mr. Skimmer was a million miles away, and I didn't really think Mr. Butterfly Fish would help, even though he had liked my filamentous extension. At last I gave up and my head drooped back to the side of the rock. I was ready for my death, and I would welcome it with open fins- or at least one open fin.
Suddenly, in the distance, a high, sweet voice met my ears. "Where are you?"
I wondered who it was, but I knew the voice couldn't be talking to me; I didn't know anyone around this area.
"Where are you?" she called. "I can't help you if I don't know where you are! Are you alive?!"
Suddenly, my head lifted back up again. This fish had actually heard my weak calls of help and was looking for me.
"Here!" I yelled, as loud as I could. "I'm here, behind the rock!" As I yelled, my malfunctioning gills, one side bleeding, constricted, choking me and beginning a string of coughs. My eyes were closed in pain, but I could feel as a pair of fins picked me up and gently carried me away to a new home.