After six months, Gil, Deb, Bloat, Bubbles, and Jacques have finally escaped the Marine Life Institute. Peach and Gurgle, however, decided to stay in the aquarium: Gurgle stayed in the Open Ocean tank,
“I can’t believe we finally escaped!” Said Bloat.
“Don’t count your seagulls until they hatch, Bloat.” Said Gil. “We have to find a way back to the Great Barrier Reef. But how?” Suddenly, a cross-eyed sea lion with grey skin and a unibrow scooped up the fish with his bucket. It was Gerald, who was trying to refill his collection. He swam towards Fluke and Rudder to show them his catch.
“What have you got there, Gerald?” Asked Rudder, and Gerald showed him the fish and shrimp he caught.
“Gerald!” Said Fluke. “Those aren’t treasures, those are fish! Dump it!” Gerald emptied the bucket and poured out Gil, Bloat, Deb, Bubbles, and Jacques.
“Sacrebleu!” Said Jacques. “Sea lions!”
“Don’t get so scared, Jaques.” Said Bloat. “I’m supposed to eat you in the wild.”
“What do we have here?” Asked Rudder.
“I’m Gil.” Said the Moorish idol. “And this is Jaques, Bloat, Deb, and Bubbles.”
“Don’t forget Flo!” Said Deb. “Speaking of which, where is she?”
“The name’s Fluke.” Said Fluke.
“And I’m Rudder.” Said Rudder. “What brings you here?”
“We come all the way from Sydney, Australia.” Said Gil. “And we want to find a way back to the Great Barrier Reef, where we belong.”
“You come from Australia?” Asked Fluke. “No way! We just met a little blue fish from Australia, and she’s going to Alaska! We don’t know the way to Australia, but we do know one thing: If you want to go to Australia, keep swimming west until you end up in an underwater dump.”
“There are crabs that live in garbage!” Said Rudder. “Once you find them, you’ll find a current back to the Land Down Under.”
“Great!” Said Gil. “Gang, we’re going west!”
———————————
It was now nighttime, and Dory, Hank, and Bailey were almost near their next destination: Graham Island. They were greeted by a school of Chinook salmon and a Rougheye rockfish.
“Welcome to Graham Island,” Said a rockfish. “The largest island in the Haida Gwaii archipelago! What are you three doing here?”
“We’re going to Nebraska, I mean Alaska!” Said Dory.
“Yeah.” Said Bailey, who was losing his nasal accent. “I’m heading home to Glacier Bay National Park!” The rockfish then looked at Dory and Hank.
“Aren’t you two a little tropical to live around these parts?” The rockfish asked.
“We’re from the Great Barrier Reef.” Said Hank. “We’ve been swimming for four hours straight! Do you suppose we could sleep here for the night?”
“Of course!” Said a salmon. “However, you have to be careful. This is a popular fishing spot. Humans love to fish for us, but they aren’t aware that bears and eagles rely on us for food.”
“But aren’t you aware that you’ll get eaten?” Asked Hank.
“Yes, but it’s our destiny.” Said the salmon. “I’ll spare you the lecture and find you a good place to sleep.”
—————————————
A few minutes later, Bailey slept near a rocky shore away from humans, while Dory and Hank slept on a blanket of kelp. Before they went to sleep, Dory wanted to ask Hank a question.
“Hank,” She started. “I know I shouldn’t ask this, but how did you lose your tentacle?”
“It was three years ago.” Hank began. “I was hatched in the Pacific Ocean, 300 meters below the Channel Islands, had over 50,000 brothers and sisters. I loved swimming in the ocean without a care in the world, until I got captured by humans. Wanted to make sushi out of my tentacles. They managed to chop off one of my tentacles, but I gave them the slip and ran off. After that, I realized how dangerous it is for a fish, crustacean, and mollusk, so I went to the Marine Life Institute to hitch a truck to an aquarium in Cleveland, Ohio.”
“Is that why you were rude to me?” Dory asked.
“Yes.” Said Hank. “But after that, I decided to live with you, but only because that singing stingray asked me to.”
“You can swim off to Cleveland after we return Bailey, if you want.” Dory suggested.
“No.” Said Hank. “My place is with you, Marlin, Nemo, Destiny, and the rest of the gang back at the Reef.” He then wrapped a tentacle around Dory.
“Good night, Hank.” She said.
———————————————————
Meanwhile, the Tank Gang made it to the underwater dump. Bubbles saw a bubble leak out from under a soda can, and he tried to pop it, but he got pinched by a hermit crab, who was living within the can.
“Bubbles!” Said Gil. “Stay focused! We need to ask one of these crabs where the EAC would be.”
“Why would anyone want to live around here?” Asked Bloat. “It’s a dump!”
“Hey!” Said a hermit crab, popping out from underneath a mug and making Bloat puff up. “This may be a dump, but it’s all we have! Humans have been dropping garbage here for decades! It’s not our fault that a snail shell is hard to come by, nowadays.” Bloat deflated after hearing the crab.
“Sorry.” Said Gil. “My friends have never been outside a fish tank before. The name’s Gil.”
“The name’s Claude.” Said the hermit crab. “What brings you here?”
“We need to find the East Australian Current.” Said Gil.
“The EAC?” Replied Claude. “Just keep swimming until you see it!”
“That’s all?” Asked Bloat.
“Piece of kelp.” Said Claude. “Nice seeing you!”
“Thanks!” Said Bubbles, and the quintet of fish swam out of the junkyard to find the EAC.
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