The dentist's office was closed for the night. The tank was dark, and Nemo slept soundly in the tiki hut.

Jacques approached Nemo quietly and said, "Psst. Nemo."

Nemo didn't stir, so Jacques threw a small pebble¹ at him. Still no response from Nemo. Jacques threw another pebble at him, but the little fish slept on. In frustration², Jacques threw a whole bunch of pebbles³.

Nemo woke with a start.

"Follow me," Jacques told the new fish. He led Nemo to the center of the tank, which was lit up by the red gleam of the fake lava⁴ flow.

Nemo heard a strange low chanting, then saw something moving behind the tiki heads. Bubbles, Gurgle, then Bloat surfaced from behind the heads.

Jacques and Nemo began the long climb up the face of the volcano. As he passed by Deb and Peach, Nemo was given a ceremonial whack⁵ with the kelp fronds⁶ they held.

Then, at the peak of the volcano, Nemo saw Gill floating silently.

"State your name," Gill told Nemo.

"N-N-Nemo," the scared fish stammered⁷. "Brother Bloat, proceed," said Gill. "Nemo. Newcomer of orange and white,"Bloat said solemnly. "You have been called forth⁸ to the summit of Mount Wannahockaloogie to join with us in the fraternal bonds of tankhood."

Nemo had no idea what Bloat was saying. "Huh?" he asked.

"We want you in our club, kid," Peach said. "If you are able to swim through… the Ring of Fire!" Bloat said dramatically.

Nemo looked around, confused.

Bloat gave Jacques a stern look and whispered to him, "Turn on the Ring of Fire." At that moment, a wall of bubbles rose out of the volcano.

Gill motioned to Nemo to swim through the bubbles to him.

Nemo took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He hesitated, then swam with all his might. He swam through the Ring of Fire, bumping right into Gill.

Gill gave Nemo a big smile and lifted him high over his head. "From this moment on, you will now be known as Shark Bait," he said.

"Okay." Gill added to the rest of the Tank Gang. "Shark Bait's one of us now, agreed?" The whole tank agreed.

"And we can't send him off to his death. Darla's coming in five days," Gill said. "So we're gonna get him outta here. We're gonna help him escape."

"Escape?" Nemo squeaked⁹. "Really?"

"We're all gonna escape," Gill said.

All the fish laughed. "Not another one of your escape plans," Gurgle said.

"Sorry, but they just never work," Deb added.

"Yeah, why should this be any different?" Bloat asked.

Gill turned serious and pointed¹⁰ to Nemo. "'Cause we've got him."

Nemo gulped¹¹. "Me?" he asked.

Gill put his fin¹² around Nemo. "You see that filter? You're the only one small enough to get in and out of that thing," Gill said.

Nemo started to feel the pressure.

"What we need you to do," Gill said, "is take a pebble inside there and jam the gears. You do that, and this tank's gonna get filthier¹³ and filthier by the minute. Pretty soon the dentist'll have to clean the tank himself—and when he does, he'll take us out of the tank, put us in individual bags; then we'll roll ourselves down the counter, out of the window, off the awning¹⁴, into the bushes, across the street, and into the harbor.

"Who's with me?" Gill asked, turning to the rest of the Tank Gang.

Everyone raised a fin in agreement, except Gurgle. "I think you're nuts! No offense¹⁵, kid, but you're not the best swimmer," he said.

"He's fine. He can do this!" Gill said. "So, Shark Bait, what do you think?"

Nemo looked around at all the friends he'd made and thought about seeing his father again. "Let's do it," he said with a smile.

 

夜晚，牙医的办公室关门了。水族箱里黑乎乎的，尼莫在提基小屋里睡得正香。

虾虾静悄悄地靠近尼莫说：“喂，尼莫。”

尼莫没醒，于是虾虾朝他扔了一小块鹅卵石。尼莫还是没有反应。虾虾又朝他扔了一块鹅卵石，但是这条小鱼继续大睡。无奈的虾虾扔了一把鹅卵石。

尼莫猛然惊醒。

“跟我来。”虾虾对这条新来的鱼说。他带着尼莫来到鱼缸中央，假的岩浆发出红色的微光，把这儿照亮。

尼莫听到奇怪的、轻轻的喊叫声，然后看见提基头像后面有东西在动。泡泡，胆小鬼，还有猪猪从头像后面出现。

虾虾和尼莫开始在火山壁上慢慢地爬行。尼莫经过漂漂和小桃时，他们用手里的海藻叶子礼节性地打了他一下。

然后，在火山顶上，尼莫看见吉哥安静地游着。

“报上名来。”吉哥告诉尼莫。

“尼—尼—尼莫，”吓坏了的尼莫结结巴巴地说。“猪猪祭司，继续。”吉哥说。“黄底白条的新人，尼莫，”猪猪庄重地说，“鱼缸帮兄弟会在瓦纳胡克落基山山顶邀请你入帮。”

尼莫对猪猪的话一头雾水。“啊?”他问。

“我们想让你加入，孩子。”小桃说。“只要你能游过……火焰环!” 猪猪夸张地说。

尼莫环顾四周，迷惑不解。

猪猪严肃地看了虾虾一眼，小声地对他说：“打开火焰环。”这时，很多泡泡从火山里冒了出来。

吉哥示意尼莫穿过泡泡，游到他身边。

尼莫深吸了一口气，闭上眼睛。他犹豫了一下，然后竭尽全力地游了过去。他冲过火焰环，正好撞到了吉哥身上。

吉哥对尼莫报以灿烂的笑容，把他高高举过头顶。“从这一刻起，你就叫鲨鱼饵。”他说。

“好了，”吉哥对鱼缸帮的其他人补充说，“鲨鱼饵现在是我们的一员了，同意吗?”所有人都表示同意。

“我们不能让他去送死。达拉五天后就来了，”吉哥说，“所以我们要让他离开这儿。我们要帮他逃走。”

“逃走?”尼莫尖叫道，“真的?”

“我们全都要逃走。”吉哥说。

所有的鱼大笑。“不要再搞逃亡计划了。”胆小鬼说。

“对不起，只是那些从来都不管用。”漂漂补充道。

“是的，这次能有什么不同呢?”猪猪问。

吉哥严肃地转过身，指着尼莫说道：“因为这次我们有他。”

尼莫倒吸了一口气。“我?”他问。

吉哥用他的鳍搂住尼莫。“看见那个过滤器了吗？你足够小，是唯一能钻进去还能钻出来的。”吉哥说。

尼莫开始感到有压力。

“我们需要你做的是，”吉哥说，“把一颗鹅卵石放进去，卡住齿轮。那样之后，水族箱很快就会变得越来越脏。用不了多久，牙医就得自己清洗水族箱——他清洗的时候，会把我们从水族箱里拿出来，一个个放进袋子里；然后，我们会滚下桌子，钻出窗户，掉下雨棚，钻进灌木丛，穿过马路，跳入海港。”

“谁支持我?”吉哥问，转向鱼缸帮的其他鱼。

大家都举起一只鳍表示同意，除了胆小鬼。“我觉得你们都疯了！不是冒犯，孩子，不过你游得实在不怎么样。”他说。

“他可以。他能做到!”吉哥说，“所以，鲨鱼饵，你觉得怎么样?”

尼莫看着周围所有的朋友，想着再次见到自己的父亲。“我们就这么干吧。”他微笑着说。

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