Gill, Marlin, Nemo, Dory, and all the others who are not Mr. Skimmer belong to Disney and Pixar. The Skimmer guy's mine.
Okay, this isn't a very good starting chapter, as the most important new characters don't appear until the next chapter. Although this is a sequel to "Finding Home", it's much different, the first major difference is the perspective change. This story uses a third-person POV for the most part, because the focus is not just on Gill anymore. This makes it easier for anyone to read, even if they haven't read the first. Just know that Gill managed to get out of the tank, separated from the rest of the gang, and is now living and working where Nemo is. I know I mentioned things in the summary that aren't here. The title's namesake doesn't even appear until chapter 2.
I might not actually finish the story, because I have so many different fics to write, but I'll just post what I have for now… Enjoy it anyway.
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Chapter 1: The Currents of Change
An endless expanse of pure multihued blue spread over this quaint village. Many obscure tones clashed as they danced back and forth together. Back and forth…back and forth… Faint glimmers of sunlight peeked their way through the thick curtain. With an azure backdrop all around them, it seemed like just a normal, clear day in the neighborhood, however the trees were giant stalks of swaying coral, and the everyday citizens were fish in a codependent environment. Even in what seems like vast unity, there are still pieces missing…mysteries waiting to be exposed in the bright lights of the Great Barrier Reef. This is Eco Valley, with unity as its most prized possession.
Great masses of colorfully patterned fish swerved through coral mazes. These groups came to an abrupt halt as one big red fish zoomed into the middle, spreading its fins. No one seemed to care. Many would assume that the others would complain about it, yelling at this defiant fish to get out of their way, but none made such a motion. It was only the law.
The red fish gestured with one fin and allowed two pedestrians to cross between the waiting streams. As she made her way to the other side, the blue pedestrian turned and waved to the red crossing guard.
"Good day, Mr. Crossing Guard!"
The crossing guard looked a little surprised, since no one ever said anything to him while he was on duty, but waved back to her anyway.
The blue fish's partner, an orange clownfish, grabbed her yellow-tipped fin and pulled her towards their unknown destination. It was hard to tell exactly where they were going since the reef was a blur of colors and shapes; it was brain-wracking just trying to figure out where one reef section ended and another one began. "I know you're just trying to be friendly and fair to everyone," the clownfish began. "But do you have to greet every single fish we come across?"
"I didn't greet every single fish," the blue Dory replied. "I didn't say hello to all of those fish on the side that were being held up…" She gasped and put a fin over her mouth, as if she had just remembered something she had forgotten to do. "Yeah…I guess I forgot about them! I better go say hi to them!" Dory began to jet off back to the waterway.
Marlin the clownfish quickly reacted, slapping his orange and black fin over hers and keeping her within reach. "No, no, you can say hi to them later. That'll probably just hold them up even more."
Dory looked a bit disappointed, but slid back beside her friend anyway. It looked unusual and very comical to see the little clownfish calming the much bigger regal blue tang like a small child.
The reef opened up like a big yawning mouth below them and the sandy cliff tumbled into an equally sandy valley. This was the pickup clearing, where Dory and Marlin always came to drop off/pick up their son/adopted nephew, Nemo. From the fact that little Nemo wasn't paddling along beside them, and that Eco Valley's town shell bell showed 2:15 as the official time, it was pickup, not drop off.
Once they whooshed down into the sandy clearing, Dory happily said good morning to all of the parents waiting with them. Lately, waiting felt strange since the parents could actually see and hear the end of the class. Well, at least on Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Marlin stared at his son proudly and watched as he picked up a piece of stripped seaweed and made marks in the sand.
The mini shell bell embedded in the nearby sand rang. "You know what that means, kids," a deep voice said. The little fish all packed away their seaweed "quills" and waved to the teacher.
Nemo came zooming towards Marlin and Dory. "Hi Dad! Hi Aunt Dory! Did you see that? Look what I can do!" He pulled out his seaweed quill and wrote something in the sand. Marlin stared at the symbols in bewilderment. He had never learned how to read, so he was very happy his son was learning, although it made him feel a little inferior.
Dory hovered up and read what he had written. "N-Nemo. Nemo? What's a Nemo?" Nemo giggled.
"Dory! I'm Nemo!"
"Really?" Dory said. "So that's your name. You can write your name!" Nemo beamed proudly.
"Yup," said that same deep voice. "Shark Ba…uh, Nemo's doing very well in class."
"Uncle Gill!" Nemo cried. "You're coming with us on our family outing, right?"
Gill, the Moorish idol teacher and friend of the family turned to look at Marlin. "Well, if it's alright with the rest of the family…"
Marlin smiled. "Sure, why not?" We haven't done something with all four of us in a while." When Gill had first come to Eco Valley, Marlin had had mixed emotions about him. He was afraid just because, well, he was a frightening fish. His piercing gaze and stony frown often turned other fish away from him. Marlin was jealous, mainly because Gill could read and write- two things that Marlin was certain he'd never be able to do. He had also had some buried anger, since he had no idea what his true intentions were. At first he thought he might even be trying to take Nemo away from him! However, the more time they spent together, the more those awkward emotions had dissolved.
The father, son, and the adopted uncle and aunt began to swim off in the opposite direction. "So, where are we going?" Nemo asked. "You didn't tell me."
"It's a surprise!" Dory cried. "Oooh, I love surprises!"
"Actually, I don't really know," Marlin admitted. "We'll think of something."
Suddenly, a pair of long, flat "wings" spread over the area above them. A large, spotted ray whooshed down and landed like a flying saucer in front of them. "Hi, Mr. Ray!" Nemo cried. "You're coming with us too?!"
Mr. Ray chuckled. "Uh, maybe some other day. I'm really here because I need to speak with you, Mr. Gill." The ray swiveled his protruding eyes to gaze in Gill's direction.
Gill swam up to him and excused himself from the rest of the group for a moment. As he hovered away, just a few inches behind the ray's spotted and segmented tail, his mind reeled wondering what in the world he would need to see him for. Mr. Ray slipped behind a very large grayish rock and Gill stopped right behind him.
"Does this have something to do with my teaching?" Gill immediately asked. That was his worst fear at this time, that Mr. Ray would fire him. Then again, he didn't really have the right to fire him. He was only a fellow teacher. Realizing this important fact, Gill now glared at Mr. Ray, seeing him as an equal, unworthy of kicking him off the Eco Valley school faculty. Then again, the Eco Valley school faculty consisted of just him and Mr. Ray.
"No, no," Mr. Ray immediately answered, submitting to his glare. "I need to speak with you about recruiting another member." Recruiting another member? What would Gill have to do with recruitment?
"Anyway…" Mr. Ray continued. "I had a meeting with the school board of this side of the Great Barrier Reef recently and I told them all about how you began teaching here. They don't particularly like the fact that you're teaching without a certification, but…that's not the point!"
Gill was giving the ray another one of those looks and he couldn't stand it. Although, it didn't really matter to Gill anymore, if he needed to, he'd go and get a certification; he just didn't want to leave the children.
"So…" Mr. Ray barreled on. "I told them about your statement that day…" It was obvious what he was talking about. Everyone remembered that day when Gill had made a big, rousing speech in the middle of the pickup clearing about the need of the students to have a well-rounded knowledge, and not just the subject of science. This had been his reason for needing an English teacher. Every single parent that had been there that day would never forget that speech. Mr. Ray obviously hadn't forgotten it either. He revealed that he had recited parts of it to the school board and they had completely agreed. "So now," Mr. Ray continued. "They want me to find a suitable math teacher."
"A math teacher?" Gill asked. "And how does this concern me? You want me to double as a math teacher?"
"Oh no, or course not! I'm not going to make you do any more than you're doing right now. I just wanted to know if you knew anyone who would make a good math teacher."
"I'll think about it," Gill told him. Then, it struck him like a bolt of lightning. It was one of those brainstorms he was famous for. This one, unlike many of the others, didn't require premeditated planning, but it was just as good as anything else. "Mr. Ray?" Gill spoke up again, turning back around for a minute.
"Yes?" the spotted ray responded, his hopeful tone obvious.
"I'll see."
Mr. Ray looked perplexed. Gill swam away with a smile on his face, knowing exactly what he was thinking- "that's it?!" As he moved closer to the pickup clearing, the two orange blobs and the blue blob molded into the shapes of Marlin, Nemo, and Dory.
"What happened?" Dory immediately asked. "Oh, sorry, was it a secret meeting?"
"It had something to do with your teaching, didn't it?" Marlin said. "Was he giving you advice? He's not going to kick you out, is he?"
"Don't worry," Gill told him. "We've just got a place to go now."
"Where?" Dory cried. "Where are we going?"
"Field trip?" Nemo asked, a bit confused.
"Just follow me," Gill told them. He turned his black-and-white tipped tail and began paddling away towards the edge of Eco Valley.
Marlin was a little apprehensive about following this secretive Moorish idol. He still didn't really know him… Marlin shook his striped head. Bravery, he reminded himself, trust. Those were two things he needed to keep telling himself to have. He had gotten more used to these concepts, but he still had a few slips, reverting back to his old paranoia once in a while. However, Marlin seriously considered making the about-face when Gill led them over the borderline of the Eco Valley reef section. Just where was he taking them?
This section of the reef was very similar to Eco Valley, although there were a few less fish and it did not dip down here and there. Marlin noticed the fish whispering to each other as they passed. Something about this just didn't seem right.
Nemo looked up to see his father swimming beside him. "It's okay, Dad," the little clownfish said. "They're not staring at us." Instead, they were staring at Gill, glancing sideways at him.
At last, Gill reached a small clearing, a bit like the pickup one back at Eco Valley. "You wait here," he told them and swam out into the middle.
"What's he doing?" Nemo wondered aloud.
"There's no one there," Dory said. "Even I can see that." But this time, Dory was mistaken.
"Skimmer," Gill summoned, and a long light brown skate suddenly rose from the ground.
His small eyes grew a bit wider. "I…I didn't really think you'd come back."
Gill smiled at him. "I don't break promises."
"He must know that skate!" Dory whispered intensely, as if she had just uncovered some remarkable secret.
"Well, that's obvious," Marlin commented, "But how? And why is he talking to him now?"
Dory rubbed her fins together. "Ooooh, spying on other fish is so exciting!"
"Shh," Nemo hissed. "I can't hear what they're saying!" The three family members shut their mouths and eavesdropped happily.
"Anyway," Gill was explaining. "I wanted your opinion on your old job. Did you enjoy teaching us? Well, I know "us" isn't a good term. Did you enjoy teaching in general?"
Mr. Skimmer took a deep breath. "Well, I always used to enjoy teaching…" He shuddered a little bit. "I…well, to tell you the truth, I'm a bit afraid of teaching nowadays."
Gill frowned and nodded. "I understand." A moment of complete silence passed between them. Dory, Marlin, and Nemo held their breath. Dory was dramatizing this so much, that if they hadn't begun talking again in a little while, she would have burst out in a yell, the suspense too much for her.
"I…well…I saw it."
Gill looked up at Mr. Skimmer, his face unreadable. "Saw what?"
"Saw what?" Mr. Skimmer replied, aghast. "You know what! The war! I nearly died in that war! It wasn't that they hated me, I was just…in their way…"
The three family members looked at each other. "What is he talking about?" Dory asked. Both clownfish shrugged.
Gill swam a little closer. "Calm down now," he tried to comfort the scared old skate. "It's all over. They're gone now, and you'll never have to see them again."
"Kids," Mr. Skimmer spat. "Kids are some of the cruelest fish in the sea."
Gill nodded. "Yes, some kids can be. I know that all too well, but…" he glanced back at Marlin, Dory, and Nemo's corner. "…Not all kids." At last, Gill turned completely around and called over to them. "Nemo! Come here for a moment. There's someone I want you to meet."
Nemo took a deep breath and plunged out into the clearing. Mr. Skimmer seemed frightening with his grouchy frown, and he nearly turned back. As he grew closer to the looming skate, he felt the shadow of Gill over him and relaxed once again. If anything bad happened, Gill would protect him.
"Mr. Skimmer, I'd like you to meet my student, and adopted nephew, Nemo."
"H-Hi, nice to meet you," Nemo stuttered uneasily. Dory wiggled, itching to barrel up and introduce herself too, but Marlin grabbed her fin and held her tightly to the ground.
"Well, hello there, Nemo," Mr. Skimmer replied after about five seconds. "You're a clownfish, right? Slowly, he smiled. "Clownfish are cute."
"In Eco Valley, I'm the only Moorish idol," Gill explained. "Many of the children are no bigger or more threatening than little Nemo here. Sure, it has its troublemakers, but they aren't evil. Take the bully, Honey Nut for instance. He causes havoc just because he's sick and tired of being compared to his other ten brothers…" Gill went off on a big list of his students and their personal problems. Nemo watched with shock. He had no idea his classmates had so many problems. "I believe in a strong student-teacher relationship. You get to know kids and they become almost like family to you, while you're providing them with useful information. That's what teaching is all about…" Gill gradually trailed off. He took a deep breath again.
"We're looking for a Math teacher. You might not agree with me, but I think you'd be perfect for the job. A ray is already working there as a science teacher; believe me, the kids all love your kind…"
Mr. Skimmer immediately shook his head. "No. No, I can't teach again. Not after an experience like that…"
Gill looked him in the eyes. "We need you," he slowly said. "I don't know where else we'd find a certified Math teacher. You just have to trust me…"
"Please!" Nemo suddenly cried. "We're not gonna hurt you, I promise! None of us are that bad." Mr. Skimmer seemed surprised at his sudden outburst of concern.
Gill stared back at him. "We never break our promises." Another silent moment passed.
At last, Mr. Skimmer gathered his wind. "Well…yeah, okay. I'll try it again."
Nemo almost yelled, "Yea!" but contained himself, as no one else seemed to be celebrating. Gill didn't even crack a smile.
"Okay then," he said. "Come back with us, and we'll get you set up for a test class. If all goes well, then you may have yourself a new job."
The skate was led up to Dory and Marlin and introduced. Then, they all trooped back to Eco Valley, Gill leading the way. He spoke with Mr. Ray as soon as they got back and introduced him to Mr. Skimmer.
Now it was Gill's turn to worry. He didn't want to further traumatize the poor skate by putting him in an uncomfortable position, but he was highly experienced, and was the most qualified teacher he knew. That night, Gill decided he would wait until later tomorrow to find out what was going on at the pickup clearing.
The next day, he found himself defying his decision and trying to discretely sneak by the area and catch a snatch of the conversation. So far, all seemed calm. There had been no mass breakouts of chaos yet. The minute the school's shell bell rang, Gill went flying into the clearing and slipped next to Marlin and Dory.
"Gill?" Marlin asked. "We're picking up Nemo today."
"I know," Gill replied. He swam up and tried to get a look at Mr. Skimmer. Finally, the crowds of students began to part, meeting up with their parents and filtering out of the way.
At last, Mr. Skimmer was visible in the middle of the group…and he was smiling.
Gill returned his grin. "So, I trust everything went well?"
"They were listening to me!" Mr. Skimmer said with surprise. "They listened, and they cooperated…they actually like the shell game I made up!" Two days later, to no one's surprise, Mr. Skimmer was officially hired as Eco Valley's first Math teacher.
In the last year, many things had changed about this peaceful little village. The whole school system had begun to reform, and soon with the currents of change now flowing from the north this would not be the end of it. The life of a fish was on the cusp of a startling revelation that would forever change his life. Something was on its way this very moment- something that would also give Eco Valley a shock to its system and define exactly what family was.