Author's Note: How many people have read my story? If you've read my story, and you haven't reviewed, then you're making me sad. Are you people who are reading my story and not reviewing not reviewing because you don't like me? I'm sad now.  But you know what would make me happy? More reviews!

Chapter Three: A Visit to Marlin and Cuss Word Substitutes

Anchor had woken up from his fake sleep. 'Hmm,' he thought, 'it's quiet… I can hear my thoughts… I'm thinking… How come I can't hear anything else?' He swam out his room and looked around. He looked left… he looked right… he didn't see anybody. 'Bruce and Chum are gone! I'm all alone! How could they leave me alone like this…' Anchor's mind/conscious like thingy took over and said, 'You're not alone. You have a new member now, remember? Now stop panicking in your head, go get breakfast, and talk to the girl already!' That was all the encouragement Anchor needed to go get breakfast. He sped through the hallway… and bumped right into Marquella!

"Oww! My eye!" Marquella shouted.

Anchor mentally kicked himself. 'You are an idiot. A clumsy, speedy idiot. Give up your dreams now… you've lost your chance.' His mind/conscious like thingy said.

"Shut up." Anchor mumbled to his m/c, a shorter way of saying mind/conscious like thingy.

"What'd you say?" Marquella asked.

'Think of something! Or else she'll think you're crazy and you talk to yourself!' "Oh nothing!" Anchor lied quickly. "Just that…. It's a beautiful day."

Marquella gave Anchor a confused look. "But you haven't been outside yet."

"Oh! Umm…" Anchor looked around for an answer. 'Think,' his m/c told him, 'and this time, think CAREFULLY.' Anchor finally found an excuse. "I can see the sun light shining through the door." He said, pointing to the door. 'Smooth move genius. You've really got her convinced.' His m/c said.

Marquella looked over at the entrance. Sure enough, a ray of light was reflecting on the ship's metal.

"I guess it seems like a beautiful day…OWW!" The pain in her eye came back. Marquella held her left eye with both fins.

Anchor remembered his common courtesy and asked, "Sorry mate. You okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm okay." She said sarcastically. She usually didn't use sarcasm, but she had just been knocked in the eye by someone she did-but-hardly- knew. "You only knocked me in my god…"

Anchor gasped. "Marquella!" He knew what she was going to say, and knew that she was kind of mad at him for hurting her eye. 'I hope she won't stay mad at me.' He thought.

"What?" Marquella said innocently… innocently aware of what she was about to say that is. "I was going to say godforsaken." She lied.

"Mmm Hmm. I bet you were." Anchor said sarcastically. "I just wish I hadn't interrupted you from saying 'godforsaken' to hear you say it."

'So he does have some sarcasm in him…' "I guess I deserved that." Marquella smiled. "Oww the pain!"

Anchor swam over to Marquella with a smaller burst of speed. "Let me see." He said.

Marquella uncovered her eye, revealing it to be red and puffy.

"Aww man! I didn't mean to do that! I didn't even know I could hit that hard…" Anchor paused for a moment, grabbing Marquella's fin. "C'mon." He said suddenly.

"Why? Where're we going?" Marquella questioned.

"To get some breakfast," Anchor answered. "And to get you something for your eye."

Marquella smiled. "Thanks mate, I am kind of 'ungry…" She began, but was cut off by Anchor.

"So c'mon already!" Anchor said. He was already out the door.

'He's so caring…' Marquella thought. She then followed Anchor to a nearby kelp field."

Bruce and Chum found themselves in a familiar place. Marlin and Nemo's anemone. They knew that he wasn't still sleeping, because it was a school day.

"'Arlin… 'Arlin…" Bruce knew that he could hear them, because even if he whispered, Bruce's voice was still a little loud.

"Hey you guys!" A familiar cheerful voice called out. It was Dory!

"Good Mornin' Dory! How's your day been goin' so far?" Bruce asked.

"Hmm…" Dory paused, putting a fin to her lip, the usual thing she did when she was thinking. "It's been going okay! Hey, where's Hanker?"

Chum couldn't help but smile at Dory. Her cheerful personality made everyone smile. "Oh, 'E's back 'ome!" he said. "Hey, D'you know where 'Arlin is?"

"…."

Bruce sighed. "P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney."

Dory got the message and remembered Marlin. "Oh yeah! I know where Marlin is. He should be home… or at least, I think he's home…"

"Were you just by the school yard?" Chum asked.

"Nope!" Dory said cheerfully.

"Then e' must be home!" Bruce laughed.

"Ohhh…" Dory said. She then smiled. "I'm here to pick up Nemo for school."

"That's great…" Bruce began, but he was interrupted by a sleepy voice.

"What's going on…?"

Marlin had just woken up, and his vision was blurry. It took him a while for his eyes to focus and for him to realize that there were two sharks in front of him.

"Ahhh!" He yelled, noticing that the two sharks were Bruce and Chum before going back to yelling. "Oh, hey Bruce and Chum, Ahhh!… wait? Bruce? Chum? What're you guys doing here? It's an early Sunday morning!" Marlin said.

"Umm… actually, it's Monday." Chum pointed out.

Marlin glanced at his calendar. "Holy mackerel! It is Monday! I've gotta get Nemo to school! Excuse me for a minute…" Marlin said before making a quick dash back into his anemone.

"Nemo!" Marlin called from the entrance to Nemo's room.

"Dad…?" Nemo said sleepily.

"Wake up! It's time for school!" Marlin said.

"But isn't it Sunday?" Nemo asked sleepily.

"No, it's Monday, Chum pointed that out for me." Marlin said.

What Marlin said had woken Nemo up. "Chum and Bruce's here?" Then Nemo looked at his calendar. "Holy mackerel! It is Monday!" He dashed to his cabinet to get his toothbrush and sea-paste.

"If you hurry, you might be able to get that chocolate kelp flavored kelp you like so much." Marlin called out to Nemo. 'Good thing school starts an hour later than when it usually does.' He thought. His mind then flicked back to Bruce and Chum. "Now I wonder what they're here for. What if they have a feeding frenzy here? What if they get hungry? What if Dory starts to bleed again? What if… what if…?' Marlin came out of his anemone. He forgot his thoughts for a moment and realized something.

"Hey… where's Anchor? He's usually with you guys."

"That's what we're here about!" Chum said. "We think somethin's wrong wit' him! You've gotta help us, and quick!"

"What's wrong with him? Is he hurt?" Marlin asked.

"No." Bruce said. "I don't think you should've made it sound like he's near death Chum!"

"Sorry." Chum apologized. "What I mean to say is, Anchor's been acting weirdly."

'He's acting weirdly?' Marlin thought. 'Why do they think I can help him?' "Acting weirdly as in…?" Marlin questioned.

"Oh. Well, he's been smiling a lot, and he couldn't talk to our new member at first." Bruce explained.

Chum nodded. "Yeah, and when I told him to say his name, he just said that he forgot! And he blushed redder than an apple when he told our new member his name!" He added.

Marlin was beginning to understand what Anchor's 'problem' was. 'Phew!' Marlin thought in relief. 'They're not here because they're hungry or anything, Anchor just has a girl problem…' He then realized what he had thought, and smiled. "When did he start acting this way?" Marlin asked, barely able to stifle his laugh.

"Yesterday, when we got a new member." Chum answered.

Marlin was about to have a fit of laughter, but kept his chuckles contained. 'Don't they have any idea of what's going on? They're so clueless!' He laughed in his mind. "Does this new member happen to be a girl?" Marlin said, covering his mouth with a fin to hide his smile and silent giggles.

"Well… yeah! How'd you know 'Arlin? Her name's Marquella!" Bruce replied. 'Wow.' Bruce thought. 'Marlin must be psychic!'

Marlin laughed, but cleverly turned it into a cough. "Well, do you guys want to know what Anchor's problem is?" He asked, his voice almost cracking with laughter.

"Yeah! We wanna know wot's wrong wit' him." Chum said, his voice showing his concern. 'Yeah, sure he sings off key,' Chum thought, 'and yeah, sure it annoys me to the point where I just wanna strangle 'im, but he's still my friend.'

"Wow, I remember acting that way when I first met Coral." Marlin smiled and shook his head.

"Coral…"

"Blushing and smiling…"

"But who…"

"Marquella!" Bruce and Chum shouted at the same time, clearly understanding what Marlin meant.

"Oooh, Anchor's got a girlfriend!" Dory said.

Bruce and Chum laughed at Dory's statement.

"I'm gonna go tell him that we figured out his problem!" Dory said, turning around.

"Dory wait! Don't tell him!" Chum shouted.

"Why not?" Dory asked, getting her confused look.

"Because…"

"Well…"

"He might be with Marquella and…"

"She doesn't exactly know that he likes her yet." The two sharks concluded.

"Besides," Bruce added, "don't you have to take Nemo to school?"

"Oh yeah, that's right!" Dory said, her cheerful smile returning.

"I'm ready to go to school!" Nemo popped out of the anemone and smiled.

"Did you eat?" Marlin asked.

"Yes." Nemo said.

"Did you brush?" Marlin questioned.

"Yes." Nemo sighed.

"Okay, let's go then!" Dory said. "Race you there Nemo!"

"Okay!" Nemo said, racing after Dory. "Bye Chum, Bye Bruce!"

"Bye Nemo!"

"See you later!"

Dory and Nemo disappeared around the corner.

"I guess I better follow them." Marlin sighed, swimming after Nemo and Dory. "Oh," he called over his shoulder, still swimming, "I'd really like to meet Marquella. Could you see if you could bring her over?" And with that, Marlin disappeared around the corner.

"Well," Chum began with a smile, "It looks like…"

"We'll have to start…" Bruce continued with the same mischievous smile,

"Some things." The two said at the same time, laughing before returning home.

Marquella and Anchor were swimming near their home.

"So…" Marquella began, "You guys don't eat fish."

"Nope." Anchor replied.

"Well… what do you eat? What else is there?" Marquella questioned.

"That's easy." Anchor answered. "Kelp!" He then pointed down. "And we're over some right now."

Marquella looked down and saw a medium-sized patch of kelp below her.

"We're also…" Anchor paused, grabbing a handful of kelp, "gonna get you something for that eye." He ended with a smile.

Marquella showed her interest in wanting to know how Anchor was going to help her eye with nothing but a handful of kelp. "How're you going to help my eye?" She asked, showing her excitement.

"Well, I'm going… to do… this." Anchor tied some kelp together to make what looked like a soft compress. (Is that what it's called?) He then put it over her eye. "Now all you have to do," he instructed, "Is keep this on your eye for a while. It should lose its red and puffiness. Though it wouldn't really be like that if I hadn't run you over…" Anchor paused, looking up at the sun.

"It's okay, I've been through worse…" Marquella said.

There was a long, uncomfortable, embarrassed silence. Marquella finally broke the silence by asking,

"So, how did you learn to do that?"

Anchor smiled. 'At least I know she's not that mad at me for nearly sucker punching her.' He thought. "My mom taught me how to do that." He said. "It was originally used when I cut myself though."

"Oh." Marquella said. She took some kelp in her fin and looked at it. Then she tasted it. "It's not really… that bad." She said between mouthfuls. "It has a nice…"

"Tangy flavor." Anchor and Marquella said at the same time. They both blushed, and stared at each other.

'Please let something happen right now.' Anchor thought.

'Please let somebody come and say something.' Marquella was thinking. Both their minds must've been read, because Chum and Bruce came back.

"Ummm… are we interrupting something?"

Anchor and Marquella looked up to see Bruce and Chum's smiling faces.

"Erm…no! You're not interrupting anything!" Marquella replied. "Or at least, not anything important." 'These guys have great timing at the most awkward times.' Marquella thought. "We were just…"

"Eating breakfast!" Anchor finished. "We were hungry and…"

"We came out here to eat." Marquella continued. "I kind of like the taste of kelp. It has a nice tangy flavor."

"That's what Anchor said when he first tried kelp." Bruce murmured quietly enough for only Marquella to hear.

Marquella blushed, remembering what had happened.

"Anywayyyyyyyyy," Anchor said, noticing the huge smiles on his friends' faces, "Where were you guys, and why're you smiling?"

"Oh! Ummm…" Chum said, looking for an excuse. "We… visited our friend Arlin'!"

"Yep!" Bruce said.

"Then why didn't you take me?" Anchor asked feeling bummed out because he didn't get to go with them.

"Because we… had to talk to Dory!" Bruce lied quickly.

"Mmm hmm. Had to help her remember something. You couldn't come because you didn't know what she had to remember." Chum lied.

"Oh… well that's okay I guess." Anchor replied. He was still suspicious and knew that they weren't only smiling because of that reason.

"So, who's this 'Arlin ellow'?" Marquella inquired.

"E's a friend of ours." Anchor explained. "How we met 'im is a long story."

"He wanted to meet you too." Chum added. "After we told 'im about you with a few… details…"

Anchor and Marquella saw that Bruce was trying to hold back laughter.

'He's tryin 'ard, but not 'ard enough.' Marquella thought. 'What's 'e laughing about? Maybe he heard a joke or somethin'.' "Can I meet 'im? He sounds like a really good guy." Marquella said.

"Sure. But we've gotta wait until about 3:00. He's got a son he needs to pick up from school, and 'e might not be back until then." Bruce answered.

"Cool! So…" Marquella asked, trying to ignore the huge smiles on Bruce and Chum, "Do we go home now?"

Chum looked at Bruce and nodded. "I guess we do. There's nothing else." He swam toward the direction of the ship. "I'll race you guys there!"

"Aww, of course you wanna race! You're the fastest out of all of us!" Anchor said.

"I know." Chum grinned.

"Wait." Marquella said suddenly. "How d'you know if he's the fastest if he hasn't raced against me yet?"

"Well technically… we don't!" Bruce laughed. "It's only fair to see who wins before saying he's the fastest."

"That's right." Anchor agreed.

"So, are you gonna race or not?" Chum asked.

"Yeah, I'm gonna race you," Marquella replied, "But only if I won't get bum rushed this time." She added, smiling and glancing at Anchor.

"Bum rushed?" Bruce whispered to Anchor. "What's she mean by that?"

Anchor just smiled and whispered back, "It's a story I have to tell you sometime."

"Hello? We're waiting for you to say go over here." Marquella said.

"Oh, it's okay if they don't say go Marquella," Chum said loud enough so that only she could hear, "Cause if they don't, you can tell me what you and Anchor were really doing when Bruce and I came."

Marquella blushed, remembering the awkward moment, though she couldn't really remember why it was awkward.

'So they weren't just eating breakfast.' Chum thought.

"On your marks… get set… get ready… get in your positions…"

"Anchor! Start the race already!" Chum and Marquella shouted while rolling their eyes.

"Alright, alright… Go!" Anchor finally shouted.

Chum and Marquella dashed after the ship. Chum was in the lead for a while, but Marquella gained a burst of speed… just in time to win the race!

"Woo hoo!" Marquella shouted triumphantly. "I win! That's right! Uh-huh!"

"Wow, you're faster than me." Chum said. "Nice race mate."

Marquella smiled. "Thanks."

Bruce and Anchor arrived a few minutes later.

"So who won?" Bruce asked.

Marquella raised her fin. "I did!"

"Way to go 'Arquella!" Anchor congratulated. He then went over to her and started a conversation.

Bruce and Chum just watched, smiling.

"So," Chum started, "You got any bright ideas?"

"Aww, c'mon Chum," Bruce replied, "We shouldn't really start stuff, it's not right… but as long as we start stuff casually, nobody'll suspect anythin'. And yeah, I've got an idea."

"You guys… are we goin' 'ome now or what?" Marquella asked.

Bruce was laughing, so Chum had to answer. "Yeah, I guess we are."

Anchor noticed that Chum was trying to hold back a smile, so he went over to ask him why he and Bruce were acting so giggly.

"Hey Chum?" Anchor said.

"Yeah?" Chum responded, his voice cracking with laughter.

"Why are you and Bruce acting like giggling little school sharks?"

Chum quickly tried to find a believable lie. "Oh, umm… remember when I said we visited 'Arlin?"

"Yeah…"

"Well…" Chum lied, "…He actually told a funny joke!"

"Oh really?" Anchor said, not believing what Chum said, "Well how'd it go then?"

Chum didn't say anything. Anchor knew that he had got him now, and gave a victorious smile. 'Ha! He'll have to tell me the truth now.' Anchor thought. But he was wrong.

"I forgot how it went, but it was funny." Chum lied. "Now… I'm gonna go… do stuff."

Anchor watched as Chum swam in the sunken ship. The mines were gone for some reason, so he didn't really have to dodge anything.

"C'mon Anchor!"

Anchor turned and saw Marquella waving at him from the ship entrance.

'Well, I guess that it's going to be another normal week. I sure do wish something interesting would happen.' He thought as he swam in the ship.

Little did he know, that many interesting things were going to happen…

So, that's it. Please review my story. I forgot to do a disclaimer, so here goes.

Disclaimer- I do not own Finding Nemo. Disney and Pixar do. I do own Marquella, any other created characters that appear on here, and a brand new pair of sneakers.

And now… For reviewer's choice!

What would you like to happen first?

A: Dory remembers about Anchor, but doesn't remember not to tell anyone, so she tells all the 'Finding Nemo Friends.' (You know, Crush, Gill, blah, blah, blah…)

OR

B: Bruce Chum and Anchor have to save Marquella from divers with knives and a net.

Either way, the next chapter will have humor!

This is not a begging note. This is a command. REVIEW!... please?