CHAPTER 8
Meanwhile all the way out in Sydney at the Hospital Hideout, Gil was making sure that today everything would be set for the escape plan. The Lab Gang was all set up in their positions, double checking they have everything they need. Peach being watchful eyes to what Sherman and his men were doing, waiting for the right time to set the plan in motion. Bloat made sure to unscrew the screws so that way the vent was open. The others gathered about doing their own thing, just waiting for the plan to work. Bubbles was too busy just paying attention to his bubble machine, Deb was chatting with her sister 'Flo', and Gurgle was with Jacques getting another daily scrub to make sure he was clean.
Gil couldn't help but smile, he hope this new escape plan will work. No, he knows this new escape plane will work!
However his thoughts turned to the last piece of the plan, Nemo.
Gil turned to the young boy, seeing him standing right by the window. Nemo was just looking up at the window, though he couldn't reach it, all he could do was stare up. Nemo stared out of the window, looking at the sky and seeing birds fly by pass. Gil knew the feeling of staring out that window. Wanting, and longing to be free and fly away from this place.
Nemo kept staring out of the window, he was in his own little world as he began thinking of his Dad. There was so many thoughts going on in his head, but his Dad was the only think he could think of. He sure missed his Dad with all his heart. Was his Dad even looking for him? No, it was impossible, Nemo knew his father and how scared he was of the whole world. There was no way his Dad would be looking for him not with his fear. However, Nemo couldn't help but think of the last thing he said to his Dad before he was kidnapped.
He remembered he said 'I hate you' to his own Dad.
Those 3 words were the last thing Nemo ever said to him. But he remembered the sheer shock in his father's eyes after he said those words just to hurt him. But he also remembered the fear in his father's eyes when he was taken, made him realize just how harsh those words were. Just thinking those words, repeating in his head, sounded cruel and felt like venom running cold in his body.
Nemo wished if he could, he'd take back to what he told his Dad. But if this escape plan does work, he'll be out of this nightmare. And be back home safe and sound in his father's arms.
"You miss your Dad, don't cha Sharkbait?" Nemo heard Gil beside him, both looking up at the window "Yeah..." Nemo answered with a nod. Gil turned to him for a second "Well you're lucky kid. You're lucky to have someone out there who's looking for you" "He's not looking for me...he's scare of the whole world" Nemo answered sadly, knowing deep down it was true. Gil didn't respond back, he was gonna but decided not to and change the subject.
"Peach, any movement?" Gil turned his attention to the pink haired woman "No movement at all. They're just going over some detail shipping paperwork for the black market regarding one of the 'patients.'" Peach responded, turning away from the tv device she was using to keep watch "Keep on him" Gil replied, before turning his attention back to the kid.
Nemo couldn't help but stare at Gil's tissue scars once more, he wondered how'd he got them? Gil glanced down at Nemo who turned his head away. "Gil...how did you get those-?" "My first escape." Gil told the boy and began to retell what happened "It didn't go so well. Ya see, I was schedule for their daily 'check-up' sort of speak, and thought it would be my chance! So I decided to play dead, at first it fooled Sherman and his goons, and I was wheeled away." Nemo listened as he had his full attention to the man, looking as Gil raised his hand to the scar along his face. "However, I did a foolish thing. When they were occupied, I got off the medical bed and ran for my life. At first I thought I would make it, only to end up tripping myself and landed near the medical tools, sharp medical tools I might add. And well...you get the rest" he recalled what happen but didn't continue as he knew what happened after that. Nemo getting a slight mental picture in his head when he heard this, felt sorry to hear how Gil got hurt.
"Why did you try to run?" Nemo looked up at him asking "Ya see, I was playing dead so they could wheel me down to the morgue" Gil told him "Morgue?" Nemo looked at him funny, raising his brow at the man. Gil turned to Nemo "The morgue is down a level, which also happens to be near the basement exit" he told him, Nemo surprised to here. "There are still other ways and exits out of this old hospital, Kid" Gil said, still staring at the outside behind the bared window.
Nemo heard this and looked at the window. "How many times have you tried to escape?" Nemo asked the man "I've lost count" Gil replied, placing his hand on Nemo's shoulder "We weren't meant to be lock up and treated like animals Kid, almost makes you feel like an actual animal. Or worse, makes you finally crack and that does things to you" he continued, as they both walked away. They suddenly got distracted by Bubbles as he was playing with his bubble machine trying to catch some bubbles. "Case in point" Gil said stating the facts, which that made Nemo chuckle.
"Alright! Time to put the escape plan into action!" Peach called out, making everyone turned to her. "They finished their paperwork and gonna have it sent out, that gives us at least 5-10 minutes!" Peach informed, looking back at the tv device to keep watch. "That's your cue Sharkbait!" Gil patted Nemo's shoulder, knowing it was time.
Both Nemo and Gil walked over to where the vent was "You can do it Kid" Bloat said, giving the boy positive encouragement. "Okay, you gotta be real quick. Once you get in, you start crawling through the vents. And I'll talk you through the rest" Gil told the boy. Nemo looked at the opening for a moment and back to Gil "Okay..." he said, feeling a little nervous.
"Go on, it'll be a piece of cake!" Gil gave the boy a reassuring smile. Gil then grabbed the boy and hoisted him up to the vent. Nemo reached up and got into the vents and started to crawl a bit for room.
"Can you still hear me?" Gil asked through the vent "Yeah!" Nemo called out. "Good, now here comes the object we'll give you!" Gil turned as he got a wooden plank. He placed it in the vent and gave it a push. Nemo saw the plank and grabbed a hold of it. "Alright, now all you have to do is try to find a large fan, that's the air purifier system. What you need to do is to try and find where the air is blowing from, and that's where you'll find it." Gil instructed him "Okay!" Nemo called back, and began to crawl.
Nemo continued to crawl through the vents, making and few turns, as he did as he was instructed, feeling the air and where it was coming from. "Do you see the large fan?" he heard Gil called out to him from the distance. Nemo made a turned "Uh huh!" he nodded, seeing the fan in front of him, knowing it had to be the air system.
"Okay what you gotta do is carefully wedge the wood into the fan to stop it from turning" Nemo heard Gil informed him on what to do next. Carefully Nemo crawled a little close, he tried to push the wood to the fan only to have trouble timing it, almost getting hurt in the process. "Careful Sharkbait!" "I can't do it!" Nemo shouted back.
"Gil, I don't think this is a good idea" Peach said her concern, having a bad feeling "He'll be fine" Gil reassured her. The rest of the Lab Gang had their concerns and worries as well. But they knew when Gil had a plan, he stuck to it until he sees the ends results. "Try again! And try to time it perfectly!" Gil turned back to the vent.
Nemo gulped when he heard the man, turning back to the fan. Nemo took a deep breath, he got the plank wood and slowly started to pushed it towards the fan. He carefully eyed the fan, trying to time it as he slowly pushed the piece of wood towards the fast spinning fan.
Suddenly the wood was jam into the air system, making the fan completely stop.
Seeing that he did it "I got it! I got it!" Nemo shouted with glee.
Back in the room, Peach and the rest released a relief breath they held in. "That's great Kid, now turn around and crawl on back!" Gil told him. "He did it!" Bloat cheered "At first I thought it wasn't gonna work, but it actually did!" Gurgle spoke his concerns "This plan is perfect!" Deb cheerfully laughed. Peach walked over to Gil, placing her hand on the man's shoulder. Gil looked to the pink haired woman and placed a hand on top of hers, both shared a loving smile. "This escape plan might actually work!" Peach said "Ya see, thanks to Sharkbait, we'll be escaping this place in no time!" Gil said.
Nemo still in the vents was crawling, trying to remember where he went and came from. However he was having a bit trouble, getting a bit lost. Making a couple of wrong turns until he eventually found his way back to the fan.
What he didn't know was that fan was slowing turning, the wooden plank was too thin, it wasn't think enough to stop the fan. The wooden plank slowly chipping until finally the fan snapped the plank in pieces, thus making the air system start up again. Nemo began to feel a strong windy pressure pulling him in, seeing that the fan was spinning so fast it was drawing him in. "Oh no! Gil! Gil help!" Nemo cried out, trying so hard to crawl away from the fan.
"Sharkbait!" Gil cried, the Lab Gang gasped "We gotta get him out of there!" Gil turned to the gang "What do we do!? What do we do!?" Gurgle ran around, beginning to panic "The bedding! Use the bedding!" Gil pointed to the bed sheets. The Lab Gang ran to the beds, grabbed the all bed sheets and began to tie as fast as they can to make a rope. "Hang in there Kid! Stay calm!" Gil shouted in the vents.
Nemo tried to stay calm, but it wasn't working, he tried holding onto the sides of the vents to make him stay and not get pulled back further. But he couldn't hold onto the sides much longer as his hands were slipping. He began to feel the pressure behind him sucking him closer and closer to the fan "Help me!"
"Sharkbait! Grab hold of this!" Gil shouted, pushing the bed sheet rope into the vents. The lab Gang continue to push the bed sheet rope into the vents, Nemo looked up to see the sheet rope and tried to reach for it. He reached only to slip a bit, and continued to try to hold on to the sides to keep him in place.
Gil began to panic, hearing Nemo's cries and struggles through the vents, he had to at fast. "Push little more in!" Gil turned to Gurgle "That's it! That's all there was!" Gurgle told him, seeing that there wasn't any more sheet rope. "Come on Sharkbait! Grab it!" Gil yelled through the vents. Nemo reached his hand out again, touching the sheet until he took a leap forward and managed to grab hold of the sheet rope. "I got it!" he cried "Pull!" he heard Gil commanding the others to start pulling. Nemo soon felt the sheet rope getting a mighty tug, pulling him out as he slid through the vents from the mighty pull.
The Lab Gang pulled and pulled on the rope until they heard Nemo cry out. And with one last pull, they managed to pull the boy out of the vent, sending the Lab Gang tumbling to the ground. With Peach opening her arms and caught Nemo just in time before the two joined the rest of the gang onto the ground.
The Lab Gang, slowly sat back up, groaning a bit as they did. Gil managed to stand back up, stretching a bit until he heard a sound that caught his ears. He turned to see Nemo safely in Peach's arms, he was shaking, crying and whimpering in fright. No doubt to what he went through must've terrified the young boy.
Gil acted fast as he took off his blazer jacket, carefully wrapped it around Nemo, hoping that would at least comfort him. "Gil...Gil don't make him go back in there" Peach looked up to him, still having her arms wrapped around the whimpering boy.
Gil breathed and remained silent, he looked to see all set of eyes on him. However he had his eyes glanced on Nemo, realizing what he had done. He was so focus with the plan that he didn't take account of Nemo's safety. And because of that, Nemo could've seriously gotten hurt, or worse. Gil didn't want to think about that. He looked so guilty, he couldn't even look at the young boy. He turned away "No...we're done" was all he could say and walked away from the group.
The Lab Gang stared at Gil before turning their attention to Nemo. The young boy continued to cry and whimper as he held onto Peach "Shhh...it's okay Sweetie..." Peach quietly calmly soothed the boy, gently stroking the boy's hair. Peach continued to sooth Nemo, as he continued to cry into her.
Nemo didn't want to see or look at anyone. He just continued to whimper as he hears Peach soothing words to calm him. It wasn't just that what happen to him scared him, it was terrifying at least. He didn't blame Gil for putting him in danger. No, he was the one to blame, he didn't check to see if he put the plank in right, he couldn't jam the fan and it cost them the escape plan.
Now they will never escape from this place.
And because of that, he knew deep down, he will never see his Dad again.
"Dude..."
Marlin still knocked out, began to hear a faint sound.
"Dude..."
There was the sound again, he also noticed that something shining bright on his eyes.
"Focus Dude..."
Marlin tried to open his eyes, only to see the bright and shiny sun in his eyes. He tried to focus his eyes, but it was hard to see due to the sun shining down in his eyes. However standing above him was a shadowy figure, hearing that the voice was coming from this shadowy figure.
"Dude..."
With a groan Marlin was now wide awake "He lives! Hey dude!" the figure greeted him. Marlin sat up and tried to get a good look at the figure. He realized didn't have his glasses with him, but his eyes soon started to adjust.
Standing before him was a man, somewhere roughly around his age maybe even older. He was well tanned and had a good tone body type. He had long shoulder length hair and it was an interesting seafoam green colored. He had calm green eyes. The man wore seafoam green unbutton shirt showing his bare chest, he wore brown swim trunks, and wore brown sandals on his feet. And around the man's neck was a necklace of a sea turtle. And from the way he talked and dressed, he was a surfer, being the obvious as he was also carrying a surfboard under his arm.
The surfer chuckled to himself, setting his board down in the ground and sat with Marlin on the beach towel he was laying on. "What happened?" Marlin groaned, trying so hard to remember "Saw the whole thing Dude" the surfer said to him "First you were like 'Whoa!' And then we were all like 'Whoa!' And then you were like 'Whoa'" the surfer tried to explain what happen, action with his hands to explain. However it was difficult for Marlin to understand him what he was referring to, he was not even sure what the surfer was even saying. "What are you talking about?" "You Mini-man! Taking on those Feral Fuzzy cats!" the surfer told him "You got serious thrill issues Dude, awesome!" the surfer was impressed with Marlin as he chuckled to himself.
Thinking back, Marlin remembered that he encountered wild cats in the subway, and barely made it out alive from those vicious felines. That would also explain why he lost his glasses in the first place. However he didn't care, as he was still tired and a little in pain from what he went through.
"My stomach!" Marlin held onto his stomach and groaned, feeling a little green "Whoa Man. No hurling near the board Dude, okay. I just waxed it" the surfer warned, making Marlin turned to the other side.
Marlin however held it together and turned back to the surfer "So Mr. Surfer-" "'Mr. Surfer!" the surfer laughed just hearing that "Mister is my father. Name's Crush" he introduced himself, sticking his hand out "Crush? Really?" Marlin asked with a funny look, Crush just nodded then took Marlin's hand and shook it. "Okay Crush, listen I need to get to the East Australian Current Highway. EAC? Do you know where it is?" Marlin asked him.
Crush laughed again "We've been traveling on it! It's right behind ya Dude! Check it out!" Crush pointed to a direction. Marlin looked up to where Crush was pointing to and gasped.
Crush wasn't kidding, the highway was right behind them. However they were rested along the beach stop, it all made sense to Marlin now to why he was sitting on the beach. He looked to see many cars passing by the along on the highway. Some even coming to the stop to enjoy the beach fun.
"Yeah we travel on this Highway, looking for great beach locations. We just sit back, relax, enjoy the sun and have a good time on the waves" Crush told Marlin who was still in awe with the surroundings. "Yo Crush! Just heard from Tide a massive wave's approaching!" Crush turned to a fellow surfing calling him "Better hurry Brah!" "Coming Reef!" Crush shouted back with a wave to his surfer buddy. Marlin watched looking confused until he looked to see Crush taking off his shirt, getting up and grabbing his board "Sorry Fuzzy Dude, wave's a calling! Gotta grab board!" Crush ran with his board and dove right into the water.
Marlin sat looking more confused to what was happening at this moment. He looked to see Crush and his fellow surfers on their boards drifting in the water, until a massive wave was approaching them "Wait Crush!" Marlin screamed out. However he watched as the surfers were taken by the wave and got right up onto their boards. Seeing this impressed Marlin, seeing how men and woman his own age were able to get on their boards with such ease. He heard Crush laughing and saw that Crush was surfing into the wave "Righteous! Righteous!" he can heard Crush laughing and whooping, still on his board enjoying the thrill of the wave as he surfed.
Marlin chuckled watching this, he looked to see that Crush dived into the water. He popped out of the water and whopped from the wave he rode. Crush got out of the water with board under his arms as he approached back to Marlin "Sorry to leave ya hanging Dude, call of the water you know?" Crush told him, grabbing an extra towel and dried himself off. "So what brings you on this fine day? Why do you need to go onto the EAC Highway anyway?" Crush asked him "Well, Dory and I need to get to Sydney" Marlin told him the reason why he was looking for the highway in the first place.
All of a sudden it hit Marlin like a ton of bricks as he remembered.
"Dory! Is she alright!?" Marlin began to panic, wondering what happened to Dory. Hoping nothing bad had happened to her. "Little Blue? She's over there, Dude" Crush pointed to a direction. Marlin looked towards the direction and found a familiar blue haired woman, laying on a beach towel, it was Dory.
"Dory! Dory! Dory!" Marlin got up and ran straight to Dory, when he got close he knelt down beside her. He looked to see her covering her face with her right arm as she was mumbling something quietly. Marlin gasped to see the right arm had the scratch and bite marks from their encounter with the feral cats. He blamed himself for his, she got hurt because of his stupid mistake. He should've listened to her back at the subway station. If he had only taken to what she said about going down one of the paths than she would've gotten hurt by those cats.
"Dory, I'm so sorry" he apologized, hoping she could hear him, however she kept on mumbling quietly "This is all my fault!" he said, putting his face in his hands. "...29, 30! Read or not, here I come!" Dory shot up from the towel and ran off, leaving Marlin shockingly gaped and somewhat happy that she was alright.
Marlin watched Dory out and about on the beach looking around until she turned to a beach umbrella "There you are!" she cried out. Then a couple of little kids popped out from behind the umbrella and run to hug Dory. She returned the hugs "Catch me if you can!" she called out and ran laughing, the little kids laughing along started running after her.
Marlin stood still looking surprised by this, although he couldn't help but smile. He looked around the beach to see the kids were having fun of their own, playing in the water or in the sand. Some kids were playing with their parents or playing their own games, and some were showing some dance moves they learned. All these kids were having fun in their own way.
A sound caught Marlin's attention, he turned to look at some kids on boogieboards trying to get up. One kid was having some trouble until he took a wipeout and fell into the water. "Oh my goodness!" Marlin was about to run into the water and save the little kid "Kill the motor Dude" Crush grabbed his shoulder, stopping him. "But-" "Let us see what Squirt does flying solo" Crush said, both looking back to the water.
They waited and watched until they saw the boy popped out of the water. The wave brought him to shore as he was on his back in the beach. He got back up and laughed, shocking Marlin to see he wasn't hurt at all.
"Whoa! That was so cool!" the young boy cheered gleefully. He grabbed his boogieboard turning back around with a smile and waved "Hey Dad did you see that? Did you see me? Did you see what I did?" the young boy ran up to Crush "You so totally rock Squirt!" Crush praised with much excitement same as his son, feeling proud of him. "Give me some skin" both high fived "Noggin" both head bumped "Dude" both said together. Crush wrapped his arm around his son, Squirt, giving him a hug, as the young boy return it with a big hug.
Marlin finally got a good look at Squirt and can already tell he was the spitting image of Crush. He had the same seafoam colored hair all messy like, he wore red swim trucks and wore a seafoam colored boy's tank top. And on his wrist he had a friendship bracelet with shells and a turtle.
"Oh intro" Crush felt rude and turned his son to Marlin "Fuzzyman, Offspring. Offspring, Fuzzyman" Crush made it plain and simple. "Fuzzies? Like those wild fuzzy cats?" Squirt stared at Marlin and nodded coolly and responded "Sweet!" "Totally" Crush replied nodding as well. Marlin blushed from what he heard "Well apparently I must've done something you all like, Dude" Marlin said, trying to use the surfer lingo "You rock Dude!" Squirt smiled at him and head butted him "Ow!" Marlin rubbed his head.
"Gotta go Dad" Squirt said, turning away to run to his friends "Have fun son!" Crush called out to him. Crush and Marlin then sat back on the beach and watched the kids play "It's awesome Fuzzyman. Little dudes were just baby dudes sleeping in your arms, years later they're walking, talking and swimming and then coo-coo-ca-choo, they find their own path" Crush said, thinking back of the good times he had with his son. Marlin was surprised by this "They find their own path...all by themselves?" "Yeah man, we can't hold onto them forever" Crush told him, simply stating the fact. "But but Dude, how do you know when they're ready?" Marlin asked him the big question, Crush just shrugged "Well you never really know. But when they'll know, you'll know, you know?" Crush simply told him and nodded, Marlin nodding along side him.
Just hearing what the surfer beside him had said, Marlin could tell that Crush was a good father to his son, giving him the responsibility to choose what's right and wrong, even giving him some space and freedom to grow. Just seeing this made Marlin open his eyes and made him think of what he had been doing with Nemo. He knows that he was overprotective all the time and was probably suffocating Nemo, not giving him enough space and freedom he needed. He just knew had a lot to think about for the time being.
Just then something caught Marlin's eyes, he didn't noticed it before since Crush wore his shirt, but Crush had an interesting tattoo on the back of his right shoulder. It was that of a turtle. Crush smiled at the red haired man "Checking out my ink Fuzzyman?" he asked with a smirk. Marlin blushed from embarrassment "Not that anything is wrong, I have nothing against with tattoos, but it's very interesting. I've never seen a tattoo like this" Marlin looked at the tattoo even more. "Yeah, it's my Spirit Brother" Crush told him "Spirit what?" Marlin looked up at him raising a brow "Spirit Brother" Crush repeatedly reply with a chuckle. "Yeah my Spirit Brother is a sea turtle, my family and I share a connection to the sea you know" Crush told him, as he held onto his sea turtle pendant "After all, we are Sea Romani, we are bond to the sea in this life and the afterlife" Crush added.
Marlin was surprised to hear this, Crush was from a family of Sea Romani, the Sea Gypsies. "You're a Sea Romani?" "Yeah Dude, in fact some of us are still the remaining Sea Romani families. That's why we travel on the Highway, to stop by beaches and explore the waters just as our families done long before, not to mention the killer waves!" Crush told him as to why he and the others were traveling on the highway. For Marlin to hear, after all in his youth about the Sea Romani, here he was meeting not one, but a whole remaining caravan. Still remaining, still traveling. Marlin just smiled, still couldn't believe this he had so many questions to as Crush and the others about their views and beliefs of the sea. And knowing that deep down, that when he finds Nemo he couldn't wait to tell his son he met an actual remaining group of Sea Romani.
"We're about to pack up now Crush!" Reef called out as he walked by with his gear in his arms. "Gotcha Brah!" Crush called out "Well Fuzzyman, we're about to be packing up and heading down the Highway" Crush said getting up. Marlin helped Crush pack up his things and loaded them in his truck. "Sorry if my ride doesn't have enough room for you, but you and Little Blue will have to ride in the back of the truck" Crush said, as he put his stuff away "It's no problem, thank you again for giving us a ride" Marlin thanked the surfer, making Crush smile at the man.
Crush turned back and gave a whistle "Squirt, we're all packed up! Time to go!" Crush called out and headed into the truck. Marlin hopped into the back, turning to see Dory and the kids running by "Hey look everybody!" Dory pointed to Marlin. "I know that dude, it's the Fuzzyman!" Squirt said, telling his friends, making Marlin chuckle sheepishly and waved a bit "Well go on, jump on him" Dory told the kids. "Dog pile!" the kids screamed and ran into the truck, dog piling on Marlin.
"You're a Comedian? Are you really funny?" "Is your hair naturally red?" "Are you running away?" "Did you really cross Jellyforest Station where those cats live?" "Did they scratch you?" all of Squirt's friends asked these questions all at the same time as they were still on top of Marlin in the dog pile. Marlin managed to get out of the pile "One at a time kids" Marlin laughed at the kids energy "Mister? Did you die?" one kid looked up at him, leaving Marlin speechless. Dory got into the truck to join the others "Sorry, I was a little vague on the details" she laughed a bit.
Once everyone was in, Crush started his truck and started to move out, along with the other cars following behind him.
Marlin looked as he watched some of the cars go pass them on the Highway. He felt like now that he and Dory were on the highway and was getting a ride, they were finally getting somewhere on this journey to find his son. He then felt a tug on his shirt, turning to see Squirt "So where are you going?" Squirt asked looking up at him. Marlin sighed, knowing he had to tell the kids why he was here in the first place "Well, you see my son was taken. My son was taken away from me" he told them. All the kids gasped and gathered around "No way!" Dory exclaimed surprised, even though she already knows by now.
"What happened?" Squirt asked, sitting in Marlin's lap "No. Sorry kids, I don't want to talk about it" Marlin shook his head, not wanting to relive what happened "Oh come on please!" the kids begged him, giving pouty looks "Please Mr. Fuzzyman!" Squirt looked up at Marlin, giving the same pouty look as his friends.
Marlin looked at the kids, he couldn't say no to those faces. He sighed and decided to tell the whole story from the beginning. "Okay, I live in this suburban town, a long long way from here" he began "Oh boy, this is gonna be good! I can tell" Dory said to the kids as they all sat huddled together. Squirt still sitting on Marlin's lap, looking up at him as the red haired man was beginning his tale.
"And my son Nemo, see he was mad at me. Maybe he wouldn't have done it if I hadn't been so tough on him, I don't know." Marlin retelling his story, all the kids and Dory continued to listen "Anyway, he wandered into a restricted area to this old truck and when he was out there, these strange men wearing mecha armor suits appeared and I tried to stop them but the truck was too fast. So I ran out into the city to chase after the truck..." Marlin was so involved with his story that everyone around heard his tale as they continue driving down the highway.
What Marlin didn't know at the time was that his adventure had started a word of mouth gossip chain.
During one of the stops, one of Squirt's friends was retelling Marlin's tale on the beach, as people had gathered up and listened "...Couldn't stop him. And then Nemo's Dad, runs into the big city and bumps into 3 ferocious..."
"...Gangsters, the Shark Gang! He scares the Shark Gang by blowing up their hideout!" "Golly that's amazing!" A man and woman were walking by the sidewalk as they were hearing this tale. And so the man continued "So next he had to go down..."
"...In this pitch dark alley. It's like wicked dark in that alley, can't see a thing!" the tale was being told being construction workers as they were on their coffee break "How's it going Bob?" one of the workers waved to another and Bob walked by waving back. And so the worker turned back to his buddies and went back to the tale "And the only thing they can see in that alley..."
"...Were two street dogs, a small puppy and it's mother that was larger and monstrous than the average size! No more than a size of a cougar!" two fencers were next to tell this amazing gossip tale as they were practicing. "Nice parry, Old Man" one fencer complemented "Thanks. So what happens?" the other fencer asked. "Next they gotten themselves surrounded by feral cats living in the subway, and they managed to escape the subway..."
"...Next they managed to find help and they had been searching for days through the city" two men, a barber and a customer, were telling the tale as they walked into the barber shop. Everyone in the shop listening to the two men, as the barber continued and carefully cutting his customer's hair "And so they're traveling on the East Australian Current Highway..."
"...Which means that he may be on his way here right now." at a fancy rich yacht club, two elderly woman were discussing this tale over tea. As this tale was such wonderful gossip they continued as the other ladies had gathered to hear as well, just loving to hear this gossip story that's so popular on everyone's lips "That should put them in Sydney..."
"...In a matter of days." a passenger was telling his seat neighbor the story that was going around as they got on the plane. This story made everyone on the plane, passengers and stewards, listening carefully to the two retelling this tale. The passenger's seat neighbor nodded and the man continued on "I mean, it sounds like this guy's gonna stop at..."
"...Nothing until he finds his son." at the head of the plane, the pilot told the tale to his co-pilot beside him as they were flying the plane. "I sure hope he makes it" the pilot said, hoping this man in this popular gossip tale can make it through. "That's one dedicated father if you ask me" was all the co-pilot replied with a nod, feeling the same way.
And the story of Marlin's adventures to find Nemo continues to spread like wild fire. The tale had spread from neighbor, to town, to county, to every city everywhere. It was all anyone was talking about.
Little did anyone know was that story was about to reach ears to Sydney.
To Be Continued...