“Two lefts and a right,” Dory repeated as she turned a corner. “Two lefts and a ... right? Shoot. Left and a right.” It didn’t take long for her to get confused and forget her way. “Wait. Did I already take a left?”
Dory began to panic. “Oh, no. It’s happening. Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.” She started swimming again, taking left after left until she found herself in the same spot. “Okay. I’m lost. It’s too hard. I can’t remember. I’m forgetting everything! I’m gonna be stuck forever in the pipes! The pipes! The pipe pals. Pipe pals? PIPE PALS!”
Destiny and Bailey were chatting through their pool gate as Bailey tried to teach Destiny how to swim.
“And ... swim, swim, swim —” Bailey said in a singsong voice.
Destiny swam by Bailey hesitantly. “Yeah, I don’t know about this!” she said.
“Trust me, I won’t let you hit anything — Wall!” Bailey quickly warned.
Destiny froze in place right before smashing into a wall. “What’s the point?” she asked, frustrated. “I’ll never learn to get around!”
“Ya better!” coached Bailey. “If you can’t do it in here, you’ll never do it out in the ocean. Now really focus, okay? Wall!” he warned again.
But it was too late. Destiny’s face smashed right into the wall.
Suddenly, a voice echoed through the pipes. “DESTINYYYYY!”
“Dory?” Destiny quickly turned to a nearby pipe. “Hello?”
“I’m lost in the pipes, and my parents are in Quarantine!” Dory said in whale.
“Hang on, Dory!” answered Destiny.
Destiny turned to Bailey and attempted to convince him to try to his echolocation.
“You know it’s broken!” whined Bailey.
“Just stop it and try the ‘ooh’ thing Dory talked about, will you?”
“But I don’t think I can —”
“Don’t bail on me, Bailey!”
Bailey made an O shape with his mouth and gave it a try. “OooOOOooo-OoooOOOooo-oooOO!” But nothing happened, so he stopped trying.
“Come on, Bailey. What did you just tell me, huh? Really focus!” Destiny said encouragingly.
Bailey tried again, but quickly lost steam. “I feel stupid.”
“Bailey,” said Destiny sharply.
“Sorry,” he said, and he tried again. “OOOOoooOOOh —” Then something clicked. “I’m getting something!” shouted Bailey. It was working! He could see an X-ray-like image of the pipes inside his mind. It was as if he had an internal 3-D map that he could control. “OOOoooooOoo — Here we go! OooooOoo — Oh, yes! OOooo — This is amazing! OOooo — I can see Quarantine! Ooooo — I can see everything! And I can see you!”
“He can see you!” Destiny said in whale, through the pipes.
“My life’s a rainbow!” exclaimed Bailey, feeling overjoyed.
“Bailey!” shouted Destiny, snapping him back to the task.
“Okay! Tell Dory to go left!” he said.
Bailey continued to use his special skill as Destiny guided Dory toward Quarantine. It was working! Then Bailey sensed something. “OOoooo — I’m light-headed! Ooooo — Wait! OoooOOOoo —”
“What?” asked Destiny, concerned.
Bailey gasped. “Holy Neptune! She’s not alone!” He didn’t know what it was, but he could see something moving toward Dory!
“Swim! Swim the other way!” Destiny shouted.
In a panic, they tried to get Dory to swim away from the moving figure, but she kept heading straight for it!
“No! Dory! Turn around!” shouted Destiny.
Bailey covered his eyes. “Oh, I can’t look!”
“Aaahh!” Dory screamed. “Aaahh!” Destiny and Bailey screamed. Then, in the pipes, Dory heard something entirely unexpected. “Dory?” shouted a pair of voices. It was Marlin and Nemo!
As the two clown fish wrapped her in a giant hug, Bailey started to cry. “OooooOOooooo ....
It’s — consuming her! It’s eating her alive!” To him, the images that his echolocation produced looked as though the “creature” was chomping down on Dory!
In the pipes, Nemo was so happy to see his long-lost friend. “You’re okay!” he said.
“You found me! How did you find me?” asked Dory.
“There was a crazy clam. He wouldn’t stop talking —” Marlin began.
“And we just slowly backed away from him and into these pipes. And then we started looking.”
Destiny’s whale voice echoed through the pipes.“Dory! I’m sorry!” she half shouted, half cried.
Marlin gasped. “Okay, what was that?”
“Hang on, I gotta take this,” Dory said. Then she called in whale, “It’s okay! Sorry for what?”
Hearing Dory’s voice, Destiny and Bailey celebrated. She was alive!
“I found Marlin and Nemo!” Dory said in whale.
“Dad! Did you hear that? Dory really does speak whale!” Nemo shouted.
“I heard it. And it’s bringing back some very bad memories, so let’s get outta here,” said Marlin, looking around for a way out. “I say we ... we should go this way. Follow me. It’s time to head home!”
Marlin started off and Dory followed, but then stopped short. “Wait ... um ... um ... my parents are here,” said Dory.
Marlin and Nemo couldn’t believe she’d found them!
“Well, not here exactly,” Dory explained. “I mean, but, um, I know where they are, and I don’t know exactly how to get there, but I know what — Well, I’m getting help —”
Destiny called through the pipes. “Down to Quarantine.”
“Quarantine. That’s it!” said Dory.
Dory led the way as Marlin and Nemo followed. They swam along, and Dory thought about all the memories that had been coming back to her.
“Do you think my parents will want to see me?” she asked.
“What? Why wouldn’t they want to see you?” asked Nemo.
“Because ... I lost them,” Dory admitted.
“Dory, your parents are going to be overjoyed to see you. They miss ... everything about you,” said Marlin.
“Really?”
“Dory, do you know how we found you?” Marlin asked.
“Something about a clam? Or —”
“No,” said Marlin.
“No, an oyster,” said Dory.
“No.”
“A mollusk?” asked Dory.
“No.”
“Something?”
“No clam,” said Marlin, reaching a fin out to her. “We were having a very hard time until Nemo thought, ‘What would Dory do?’”
“Why would you say that?” asked Dory.
“Because ever since I met you, you’ve shown me how to do stuff I’ve never dreamed of doing. Crazy things! Outsmarting sharks and jumping jellyfish ... and finding my son. You made all that happen.”
“Really? I didn’t know you thought that ... unless I forgot.”
Marlin cast his eyes downward. “No, you didn’t forget. I never told you. And I’m sorry about that. But Dory, because of who you are, you are about to find your parents. And when you do that ... you’ll ... you’ll be home,” said Marlin, fighting back tears.
Dory and Marlin smiled at each other as they continued to swim along the pipes.
“Dad,” Nemo said, quietly pulling Marlin aside. “Does this mean we have to say goodbye to Dory?”
“Yes, Nemo. We do.”