Disclaimer same as before. Goldie and Lash I made up.

This is when the real bulk of the story begins. This actually should be the first chapter… I know it's kinda short, and it goes a little too fast, but here it is anyway. Yep, I have another factual error. I know younger Moorish idols are taller than the older ones, but having Lash be bigger than Gill would be kind of strange. I defined nature and made him smaller, and I like him that way. Also the little "theory" I came up with is factually wrong, because they're different species, but oh well. I'm famous for my errors anyway.

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Chapter 2: New Arrivals

At the very tip of the Eco Valley cliffs, a reddish fish with blue stripes, related to Gill's student, Bobo, emerged from down below. He always liked to be here at the absolute start of the day. Here, the world began anew again, and everything old and tarnished was wiped away as the cleansing morning light passed over it. It was a magical moment, and this particular fellow wouldn't miss it for the world.

As he blinked in the newborn light, two kite-like shapes materialized in the far distance. The darkened kites moved closer and closer. The Bobo relative chattered his teeth. What were those things? Where had they come from? What did they want from him? The bigger one was curved at the end, while the smaller one was more pointed. Even though one was small and appeared harmless, Bobo's relative thought of them as sinister and menacing, advancing on him in the darkness, readying for attack… The frightened reddish fish was just about to turn tail and jet away, when the two dark shapes moved closer.

The bright light poking through the water bathed them in a recognizable glow. They weren't monsters, or strange moving shapes, but fish. Bobo's relative squinted at these fish. They weren't very familiar. In fact, he had only remembered seeing one other fish like them in all his life. They were thin and tall, with black and white stripes, including a hint of yellow. Their dorsal fins were very long and trailed behind them as they swam.

Finally, the reddish fish swam down away from the scene. As he streamed through the bustling civilization, he bumped into a different striped fish that he knew. "Hutch!" he cried. "I just saw these weird fish! I think they're rare or something! They were black and white with a yellow hue…" he described to his friend exactly what he saw.

"You saw a Moorish idol?" he confirmed. "Well, I don't doubt it. They're not rare, but we don't have many around here. There is one that I know of here in Eco Valley…"

"But there were two of them," Bobo's relative insisted. "A big one and a small one."

Hutch looked interested. "Hmm…where are they? Do you know?"

"Right this way!" Bobo's relative cried. The long, striped fish and the yellow-and-blue patterned fish zoomed, one behind the other towards the topmost portion of Eco Valley.

"You were up here again?" Hutch said, glancing at his friend- his friend who was a very good candidate for the insane asylum. Hutch had always wondered what he always got up so early for. Who would want to get up at daybreak just to marvel at the sunrise? At least, this fish was the only one he knew who did. "Y'know, maybe you just saw some little bannerfish. They look a lot like Moorish idols…"

Bobo's relative waved his head. "Well, one of them was small, but the other was big! It was about the size of the crossing guard!"

"Whatever you say," Hutch sighed. He looked out at the open water where his pal was hovering. "So…where are they?"

"I don't know!" the friend cried. "They were just here a minute ago!"

Hutch rolled his eyes. "C'mon, let's get back to civilization. If there really are more Moorish idols here, then someone else will welcome them." As much as the Bobo relative protested, Hutch grabbed his fin and dragged him back down into the maze-like coral.

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Many varying colors and patterns weaved together in a patch of coral near the north end of Eco Valley. A common sight to the fish that lived here, it was a complex and admirable work to those who never saw such things. Suddenly, one striped pattern moved. This wasn't unusual- perhaps it was a piece of the background wavering in the current. This was what Gill liked about his stripes. As long as he moved slowly and surrounded himself with tall sea plants that covered his dorsal fin, he was nearly invisible. Finally, he could get away from the city rush and just revel in the glory of the ocean without anyone bothering him.

These pristine colors and patterns were wondrous for Gill, as only a year ago he'd been trapped in a suffocating glass prism, seeing the same old thing every single day. After 630 of these days, it was heaven just to be seeing something different. Gill settled down in the coral forest and took a deep breath. Normally, because of his slight asthma problem, he wouldn't have been able to take so deep of a breath, but the water in Eco Valley was so pure, it slid easily through his gills.

He was relieved from his teaching duties for today, since it was Thursday, and Mr. Ray was taking the class on a science "expedition" somewhere in another part of the reef. He closed his eyes and tried to just relax for a while. Recently he hadn't had much time to relax, with the reports to be filed, the papers to grade, the meetings to go to, and his occasional visits to Nemo, Dory, and Marlin. As of now, Gill was Eco Valley's only Moorish idol, but just like the section's school system, all that was suddenly about to change.

"Are we there yet?" a little voice floated through the water.

Gill opened one eye. Where had that voice come from? There was no one around. He closed his eye again, thinking that he'd probably just been dreaming the voice.

This time, a different voice, a light, pleasant female voice wrapped around him. "The question isn't 'are we there yet?' the question is 'where are we?'."

"The reef," the little voice replied. "We're still in the reef. We've been in the reef since last week!"

"No," the female voice replied. "I know that. I mean, which part of the reef are we in?"

At last, Gill opened both of his eyes. If these fish were lost, he should tell them where they are, at least. He glided back into the water and pushed the waving coral stalks out of the way with his long snout. "Excuse me…is someone there?" There was no answer. They must not have heard me, Gill immediately thought, but another thought in the back of his head said, "Maybe you've finally gone mad and are hearing voices." At last, he emerged from the coral tangle, looking around for the source of the voices.

When he turned to the left, he couldn't hold in his gasp. Floating about a yard away was a female Moorish idol, looking strangely at him. She was holding the fin of a young male Moorish idol, who looked almost angry. He yanked his fin out of the female's grasp and crossed them just in front of his chin. The female continued to stare at Gill as if he had something wrong with him.

At last, Gill managed to unfreeze himself. "Oh…ah…pardon me. This place is called Eco Valley, and actually, I'm the only Moorish idol that lives here. I haven't seen any of my own kind in a long time."

"Really?" the female Moorish idol said. "That's strange. Why is that?"

"Well…you probably don't want to hear this, but...in a neighboring reef section, there was a big family of Moorish idols…" The lady's eyes grew a little wider. "When they grew up, they all turned on each other and began a Moorish idol civil war…eventually killing them all…" Her eyes grew wider. "Thankfully, I managed to escape before the war even started…"

Now, the lady Moorish idol's eyes were about to pop out of her head. She opened her mouth and her breath came in gasps. "Oh…my…God…" Gill expected her to be shocked, but not this shocked.

"Oh…my God!" she cried, this time breaking into a smile. "You're…you're the one who ran away! You…they used to pick on you; the little one with the asthma…"

Now, Gill was shocked. He froze there with wide eyes. "How…how do you know that?!"

The female Moorish idol grinned. "You're my brother! My long-lost brother!"

Gill was totally blown away. "You're my sister?! But…that can't be. I thought I was the only one that survived…"

At last, his supposed sister calmed down. "I'm Goldie," she explained. "I didn't think you'd remember my name because I don't remember yours. What was it?"

"Gill," he replied. "After my gill problem."

"Oh, yeah," Goldie said. "I remember that now." She gestured to the little boy floating next to her. "This is my son, Whiplash, but we just call him Lash for short. Lash, I'd like you to meet your uncle, Gill."

"Hey there, kid," Gill said, trying to be casual and friendly.

Lash only glared back at him. "You mean to tell me this strange guy is my uncle?"

Goldie was appalled. "Lash!" she cried. "Don't be rude!"

"Okay, okay," Lash finally said. "Hi, uncle."

Goldie frowned. "Don't mind him. He's in a bad mood." She swam up beside Gill. "C'mon let's find somewhere to rest and we'll exchange stories."

The two long –lost siblings paddled along back down into the coral forest. Gill was a little hesitant, since this fish was a total stranger claiming to be his sister. But how could she know the kind of information she had if she weren't his sister? They finally halted at a small cleared-away space in between the wavering plants.

"So," Goldie began. "You start."

Gill stared at her and then realized that she wanted him to tell his story. He began at the very beginning, recalling his departure from the reef cavern, being attacked, lost in Shock Rope Ship, captured and put in the dentist's fish tank, and eventually ending up in Eco Valley.

"Wow," Goldie commented. "Well, my story isn't quite as…adventurous, but I'll tell it to you anyway." Lash, who had been busy a few moments ago, bending and snapping coral branches, suddenly froze and stared at them. Goldie began her tale:

"Oh, it was terrible. About eighteen years after you left the cavern, it began. It was gruesome and the most horrible thing I have ever seen. Every single Moorish idol in the cavern began to turn against each other, each struggling for dominance. Blood was everywhere… body parts…it was terrible…" Goldie paused for a moment and covered her eyes in shock.

Finally, she resumed her tragic tale. "Well, in the fray, I managed to slip away from the cavern. I was always trying to escape from the battlefield, but I realized that if I even tried to get away, they'd hunt me down and kill me too. When I finally got loose, I just swam for life, as fast as I could go. Eventually, I reached a small village where I thought it was safe to hide out. I lived most of my life in the village, and met a Moorish idol man named Whirlwind. We fell in love, and Whirlwind and I were married two years later. Soon after, we decided to start a family. Tragically, carnivorous fish came and ate all the eggs, except for Lash, who was hidden underneath the ledge of a rock. Whirlwind and I were devastated, but we were happy with the one son that we did have. When Lash was four, things began to change…"

Goldie glanced back and noticed Lash staring at them, so she whispered the next few words to Gill. "Whirlwind was beginning to grow restless. He'd heard of a revolution beginning to the west. Fish were planning to all join together and conduct a crusade against humans. Whirlwind was itching to go away to the war, but I kept insisting otherwise. "You need to stay here! You have a son! You need to be there for him!" But Whirlwind still wouldn't listen. One day, we just woke up, and he was gone."

Gill stared at her in fascination. He thought he had had a rough life, but his suffering was nothing compared to watching your siblings destroy each other, losing hundreds of children, and your spouse running off on you.

Goldie sighed. "So I took Lash and the two of us have been traveling the ocean ever since, looking for a place to stay. At least now I know that the others won't come looking for me. I passed the cavern and I…"

"…saw the skeletons?" Gill finished. "Yeah, I saw them too. That's why I believed that all of my brothers and sisters were dead by now. Skimmer even said they were."

"He wouldn't know about my escape," Goldie explained. "They had him tied up near the entrance. They said that as soon as a leader had been selected, they would kill him. Of course, they never found a leader, and he eventually managed to break free."

Gill now glanced around Goldie. There was just something that didn't seem right about this whole explanation. Goldie had a bit of yellow tinge. If Goldie had the yellow tinge too, how come the other brothers and sisters hadn't picked on her just as much?

Goldie noticed him glancing suspiciously around her, and opened her mouth to give an explanation. "Oh, I forgot to explain…you probably would not have known, since you were so young when you ran away…" She gestured down to her glowing yellow side. "I do have a little bit of the yellow coloring that you have. You know that our mother and father were different in appearance, but they were actually altogether different species. Dad was a Moorish idol, like you are, but Mom was a bannerfish, a "false Moorish idol". This was why the others looked different. It's a theory that half the eggs were Moorish idol and the other half were bannerfish. The eggs that were eaten were probably the rest of the Moorish idol eggs, and you were the only Moorish idol egg that survived. I, on the other hand, was egg number 99, right before yours, in between the bannerfish and the Moorish idols. I'm a hybrid- half bannerfish and half Moorish idol."

Now, Gill was even more intrigued.

At this point, little Lash glided up. "But not me! I'm 100 pure Moorish idol, thank you very much."

Gill frowned, knowing that even though he was a Moorish idol, Lash couldn't possibly be "100 pure" Moorish idol. There had to be some bannerfish chromosomes in him somewhere. Gill was still unsure and apprehensive about this whole concept, but he decided to help them anyway, even if they weren't really his sister and nephew.

He immediately swam off to Flat Plat Acres and got Goldie and Lash a cavern to stay in. Goldie was extremely grateful, constantly thanking him and offering to return the favor, although Lash didn't seem to say anything at all. After helping them settle into their new home, he returned to his cavern on the dark side of the rock. He had a lot to think about.

Suddenly, he had a family he never knew, and that always was a difficult thing to deal with. Gill had never connected with any other fish of his kind on the planet, but a strange feeling started up in the pit of his soul when he thought of Goldie. Perhaps there were some kind Moorish idols out there. Or, that is, kind half- Moorish idols.